Not Who You Think
by pixelatrix
Summary: "You have an unhealthy obsession with your weapon." Fem Shep & Zaeed pairing. Slight Spoilers for ME1, ME2 & ME3. Rated M for Language & Stuff.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:**

**Word of warning, if you like Alenko, this will **_**not**_** be the story for you. He'll be a little OOC in this story.**

**This will be an on-going story featuring a romance between Shepard & Zaeed**

**This Chapter is really more of a prologue. It shows how they first met.**

**This is AU-ish in a lot of ways, my stories always are. Rated M, mostly because I like to cuss like a sailor in life and in my stories.**

**Shepard in this is : Colonist, was on Akuze, Paragade.**

**Beta: CelticGrace. **

**Bioware owns all. Sadly.**

**Read. Enjoy. Review. Follow. Favorite. I'll love you forever lol.**

She'd just turned eighteen. In six months, she'd be joining the Alliance. No more damn farming. She couldn't deal with colony life or over-bearing parents any longer. Her mom made her promise to think her decision to enlist over for a year, that had been just over six months ago.

_Six more fucking months to go._

The screams woke her up that night. Blood-curdling screams. The gunfire was the only thing louder than the cries. That much gunfire on a colony in the Attican Traverse could only mean one thing—slavers. She grabbed the spare rifle that she kept under her bed and stepped into the living room. Her parents were already there and armed.

Her mother shoved her out the back door.

_Run._

_We love you._

_Run._

_Hide._

_Run._

Her mother's words echoed in her ears as she made her way into the night. She crawled low to the ground to avoid detection. She thought she succeeded when a hand grabbed her by the neck and lifted her off the ground.

She found herself face to face with one of the batarian bastards. She raised the rifled and fired until the hand around her neck fell away. She dropped to her knees in the mud and tried to stop shaking.

"Nice bloody shot."

She surged to her feet with the rifle in her hands. She found herself staring into human eyes and not batarian ones. He was older than her. Short black hair with mismatched blue eyes, he stood maybe a half a foot taller than her in yellow and black armor. She couldn't get a better look in the dim lighting.

"Who the hell are you?" Her voice was barely a whisper.

"Zaeed Massani." His boot nudged the dead batarian. "You?"

"Victoria…Victoria Shepard." She clutched the rifle to her chest.

"Victoria? You don't really look like a Victoria to me." He stepped forward to ruffle her spiky black hair. "Rory."

"What?"

"Rory. That's what you look like." He grabbed her arm and dragged her into the darkness at the edge of the colony.

"Where…"

"The batarians came in mass. We don't stand a goddamn chance at stopping this massacre." He moved so fast that she had to jog to keep up.

"But…my parents…my friends…" She glanced back towards the colony that now appeared to be going up in flames.

"They're dead…if they aren't, they'll wish they were." He kept a firm grip on her.

She fell silent for a while, and then realized that she'd never seen him on Mindoir before. "Why are you here?"

"I'm a bounty hunter. I've been hunting that goddamn batarian that you shot for months." He rounded the corner and led her towards what must have been his shuttle.

She yanked her arm out of his grasp. "I can't leave my family."

"Sweetheart, trust me, these bastards intend to leave _no_ survivors." He gave her a sympathetic look. "You can stay to die. Or, get on the goddamn shuttle with me."

"Why would a man like you help me?" She didn't think he looked like the hero type, even if he was sexy as hell.

"Maybe I'm not who you think I am," he chuckled. "Now get in the goddamn shuttle."

She followed him into the shuttle. She had a feeling that she was going into shock. Her hands were still shaking. She had nothing, nothing to show of her life but a fucking rifle and the pajamas she was wearing.

_What the hell._

The bounty hunter gently pulled the rifle from her hands. He set her into the co-pilot seat. He flew them away from what had become her worst nightmare. She closed her eyes and tried to turn back time. Instead, she fell asleep.

"Work you bloody thing."

Shepard woke up hours later feeling disoriented. She appeared to be in an apartment. The bounty hunter was cursing at his terminal. To stop the emotions from overwhelming her, she focused on something that she could do. She got up off the couch and headed over to him.

"Let me help." She pushed him aside and with a few key presses, his terminal was working again.

"How the bloody hell did you do that?" He asked.

"I'm good with…technology," she shrugged. She sank back down on the couch and dropped her head into her hands. "What am I going to do now? I've got six months before I'm supposed to be at boot camp."

"Joining the Alliance?" He sounded amused.

"I can't live in pajamas for six months." She was starting to panic. "I don't have anything."

A pair of strong hands pulled hers away from her face. His fingers brushed away the tears gathering at the corners of her eyes. He was a hard man, a dangerous man. But she had a feeling that she'd never be safer than she was with him.

"I've decided to split the bounty with you. You did shoot the goddamn bastard for me." He smirked at her, and then sat next to her on the couch. "I took the liberty of opening a secure bank account for you and _ordering_ a few necessities that should arrive later today."

"Why are you helping me?" She didn't want to sound ungrateful but she needed to know.

"You shot the bastard. Most people would have panicked; you emptied a clip in him." Zaeed smiled at her. "That makes you a fucking kindred spirit, plus, I really like the bunny pajamas."

"Bastard."

_Seven years later…_

_._

* * *

_From: V.S._

_To: Z.M._

_Subj: Bunny Pajamas._

_I had a dream about Mindoir again._

_Remember the bunny pjs?_

_Rory_

_._

* * *

_From: Z.M_

_To: V.S_

_Subj: re: dreams?_

_You mean nightmares?_

_Damn bunny pjs, sexy fucking things._

_Thought you were headed to Arcturus?_

_Z.M._

* * *

_From: V.S_

_To: Z.M._

_Subj: re: dreams?_

_Nightmares. Dreams. Same fucking thing._

_They sent us to Akuze instead. The colony has gone dark._

_I'll message you when I get back._

_Rory_


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:**

**Word of warning, if you like Alenko, this will **_**not**_** be the story for you. He'll be a little OOC in this story.**

**This is AU-ish in a lot of ways, my stories always are. Rated M, mostly because I like to cuss like a sailor in life and in my stories.**

**Beta: CelticGrace. **

**Bioware owns all. Sadly.**

**Read. Enjoy. Review. Follow. Favorite. I'll love you forever lol.**

Akuze had _not_ gone well. She lay in a hospital bed two days after she'd been picked up at the extraction point. Her entire squad was gone. They told her that it was a miracle that she'd survived. And then they said that she needed to take at least a month of shore-leave to recover from the incident. If she passed the psych eval at the end of thirty days, she'd receive her next assignment as well as a promotion to Commander.

* * *

_From: V.S._

_To: Z.M._

_Subj: Akuze._

_Did not go…well._

_Still alive._

_Hospitals suck._

_Rory_

* * *

Shepard checked herself out of the hospital two days later. It wasn't until she walked outside that she realized she didn't actually have anywhere to go. They'd shipped her off to a hospital in Vancouver since her debrief would be handled at Alliance Headquarters. She didn't know anyone on Earth. Her new orders wouldn't come until after the fucking psych test. _Bastards_.

_What the fuck was she going to do for a month?_

She really needed to learn to plan these things better. With an annoyed sigh, she started down the steps only to stop on the second one. A familiar figure stood waiting at the bottom of the stairs.

_Zaeed._

He took the steps two at a time until he reached her. His fingers touched the still healing acid burns on her neck. He slid an arm around her waist and started back down the stairs.

"So…hi." She finally got over her surprise. "Also, walk slower, I banged my knee up on Akuze."

He immediately altered his pace. "Did not go bloody well does not accurately describe what happened, Rory."

"Well, it didn't fucking go well, did it?" She countered.

"Do you have a place to stay? Are you even supposed to be out of the goddamn hospital?" Zaeed frowned down at her.

"I…" She shook her head. "I hadn't gotten that far yet."

"You never fucking plan things," he chuckled.

"Do you have anything helpful to say?" Shepard wouldn't dignify that with a response.

"I've rented an apartment for a few months." He guided her across the street towards a skycar.

"Why?"

"Bunny pajamas." He helped her into the passenger seat.

"Bastard."

* * *

Zaeed had heard the report of the lone survivor on Akuze before he received the message from Rory. He'd pulled a few favors to find where they'd taken her. Rory wouldn't stay in a hospital for long, she hated them. So he figured he'd wait for her to check herself out. Alliance hospitals were a little too _Alliance_ for him.

He watched her sleeping on the bed. She'd kicked the blanket off, he got the feeling that it rubbed the burns on her arms. _Goddamn thresher maws._ He noticed a new tattoo on her left ankle. He moved closer to get a better look. It was a fucking bunny.

"It's got Zaeed Massani on its ass if you look really closely." A sleepy voice interrupted his inspection.

He looked up to find an amused pair of green eyes watching him. "You're supposed to be fucking resting."

Rory lifted a hand to flip him off. "Do you like my new tattoo?"

"It's…" he trailed off when he realized that she'd drifted off to sleep again.

He was sitting on the apartment balcony smoking a cigarette when she joined him a few hours later. She was still in cargo pants, a t-shirt and barefoot. She started towards the chair next to his but he pulled her into his lap. She grabbed his cigarette and took a puff.

"So you just _happened_ to be on your way to Vancouver for an extended vacation?" She handed him back his cigarette.

Zaeed just shrugged in response and continued smoking.

"How the hell did you know I was in Vancouver anyway?" She grabbed his cigarette again.

"Smoking's bad for you."

"So is thresher maw acid." She took a long drag then let him take the cigarette back.

"Goddamn thresher maws." He muttered around the cig in his mouth.

Shepard shook her head and laughed. She leaned down to rest against his shoulder. "I missed you."

"I just bloody saw you four months ago." Zaeed tossed the remains of his cigarette into an ashtray. He'd missed her but he wasn't fucking telling her that. "How the hell did you manage to survive?"

Rory turned away from him to stare out across the view of Vancouver. "I crawled. I hit the fucking ground and crawled. It was like Mindoir all over again. Fucking screaming, and gun fire…and I just crawled until I reached the landing zone. I couldn't save them. Fucking maws. One of these days, I'm going to save people instead of myself."

"You listen to me, Rory; you save your goddamn self, first, then fucking worry about other people." Zaeed's tightened his arms around her.

"Aww, you missed me too."


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N:**

**Word of warning, if you like Alenko, this will **_**not**_** be the story for you. He'll be a little OOC in this story.**

**This is AU-ish in a lot of ways, my stories always are. Rated M, mostly because I like to cuss like a sailor in life and in my stories.**

**Beta: CelticGrace. **

**Bioware owns all. Sadly.**

**Read. Enjoy. Review. Follow. Favorite. I'll love you forever lol.**

_From: Z.M_

_To: V.S_

_Subj: Normandy_

_How's the new assignment?_

_Sure you don't want to quit and help me run down bounties? _

_I pay better._

_Z.M._

* * *

_From: V.S._

_To: Z.M._

_Subj: re: Normandy_

_It's fine._

_Don't tempt me. I might take you up on that._

_Rory_

* * *

_From: Z.M._

_To: re: Fine?_

_You were more excited about the goddamn bunny pajamas._

_What's going on, Rory?_

_Z.M._

* * *

Shepard closed her omni-tool. It was her turn to join Joker on the bridge. She tried to slide out of her bunk without waking up anyone…particularly the man who had the bunk on top of hers. His arm dangled from his bank and _accidentally _brushed against her chest when she turned around.

_Son-of-a-bitch_.

She hurried out of the crew quarters. She'd been on the _Normandy_ for almost six months and from day one, Alenko had made her uncomfortable. He always seemed to find ways to touch her that appeared completely innocent. It had started to make this tour under Captain Anderson a nightmare. She could never catch him at it with anyone around to witness. And she wasn't even fucking sure if it was on purpose or not.

"Hey, Commander," Joker greeted her when she slid into the seat beside him. "Did you hear that we're going to head to Eden Prime?"

"I heard. I'm still trying to figure out why the hell I run into Nihlus every time I turn around." She slid into the seat next to him.

"I hate that guy."

"Name one person that you genuinely like, Joker." Shepard laughed at him.

"You're alright." Joker went back to focusing on fine tuning the controls.

Shepard pulled up her omni-tool to come up with a response to Zaeed's message.

"Captain Anderson is looking for you, Commander." Alenko's hand gripped her shoulder.

"Thanks." Shepard shot out of the chair and as far away from him as she could get. She headed back towards the CIC to find the Captain.

They arrived at Eden Prime before she had a chance to respond to Zaeed. She really hated waking up in the Med Bay. Her head was pounding and she didn't remember the trip back to the _Normandy_. She found the doctor and Alenko watching her. She didn't want to think too much about the Lieutenant carrying her back to the ship.

Thankfully, the Captain provided a sufficient distraction. She could never quite put her finger on why Alenko made her so uneasy. They were headed for the Citadel. She wasn't sure it was a good idea to mention her vision but Anderson insisted.

The next few hours, Shepard got really well acquainted with the Citadel and elevators. Always with the goddamn elevators, they were so damn slow. They'd recruited Garrus Vakarian and Urdnot Wrex to help them track down Saren, or at least prove that he was a lying, traitorous bastard. It also gave her an excuse to not bring Alenko with her.

And then…she became a fucking Spectre.

_Zaeed was going to laugh his ass off when he found out._

They headed to Flux to follow up with Rita and Jenna. Garrus got distracted by strange readings from one of the quasar machines. Wrex insisted on getting in an argument with the human bouncer. So Shepard used the distraction to check her messages.

.

* * *

_From: Z.M._

_To: V.S._

_Subj: Spectre._

_Commander wasn't enough?_

_Bloody Spectre._

_Z.M._

* * *

.

_Inter-Relay Text Chat_

_Location: Citadel_

_From: Rory_

_To: Zaeed_

_13:01 R: Show some respect, Massani. _

_13:03 Z: Do I need to mention the goddamn bunny?_

_13:04: R: Bastard. Careful, now that I'm a Spectre, I can shoot whoever the hell I want._

_13:06 Z: That might come in handy for me._

_13:08 R: No._

_13:09 Z: So…how's the Normandy?_

_13:11 R: Fine._

_13:12 Z: Fine?_

_13:14 R: Yea._

_13:16 Z: Just fine?_

_13:18 R: Yea. I gotta go._

_13:18 User has disconnected._

* * *

Five hours later, the damn Ambassador still hadn't figured out how Shepard was going to catch Saren. So the _Normandy _crew decided to take a little shore-leave. Shepard headed back to the markets to see if she could find a new omni-tool.

She was looking at a few different ones when a hand brushed the back of her arm. _Damn it._ She glanced over her shoulder to find Alenko looking at a new set of armor at one of the other stalls.

"Shepard? I didn't see you there. Let's go get a drink." He grabbed her arm once she'd finished buying the new omni-tool and started to lead her towards Chora's Den.

"Sorry, L.T., I'm not really interested in getting a drink right now." She carefully extracted herself from his grasp and headed away as quickly as possible.

She made her way to the Presidium to sit in front of the fountains. She pulled up her omni-tool to send Zaeed a message. She wanted to ask him for advice, but asking Massani about something like this would end up in a violent end to Alenko and her career. She tried to send him a chat request but he wasn't answering.

_Bastard._

_Where the hell was he?_

He was probably chasing his latest bounty. He sometimes sent her names for her to research on the extranet when he couldn't be bothered. It was a nice way to pad her bank account a bit. He hadn't sent her anything in a while though. She tapped her fingers on the edge of the bench that she was sitting on. She tried reaching him again.

"Sorry, sweetheart, there's nobody home at the moment."

She glanced back over her shoulder to find Massani standing just behind the bench. "I didn't know you were planning to head to the Citadel."

"Neither did I." He took a seat beside her.

"And?" She raised an eyebrow at him.

He draped an arm around her shoulder. "Why don't you tell me what's bothering you?"

"I'm a Spectre, I'm probably going to get command of my own ship. Why would anything be bothering me?" The key to lying successfully to Massani was sticking to truth and using creative avoidance techniques. It was usually about fifty percent successful.

"And everything's _fine_?" Zaeed gave her a skeptical look. "Fine? Since when do you bloody describe a promotion to the most advanced bloody ship in the goddamn Alliance as fine?"

"I…"

_Think damn it. Think. _

He tapped a finger against her right temple. "Rory?"

"I'm just having trouble telling a…it's just a personality conflict." She decided that was close enough to the truth. Then she opted for a distraction. "I got a new tattoo."

"A personality….what tattoo?"

_Success._

She grinned at him then pulled up right hem of her shirt to reveal a tattoo of an M-8 Avenger assault rifle on her side. "What do you think?"

"It's a goddamn masterpiece."


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N:**

**Word of warning, if you like Alenko, this will **_**not**_** be the story for you. He'll be a little OOC in this story.**

**This is AU-ish in a lot of ways, my stories always are. Rated M, mostly because I like to cuss like a sailor in life and in my stories.**

**Beta: CelticGrace. **

**Bioware owns all. Sadly.**

**Read. Enjoy. Review. Follow. Favorite. I'll love you forever lol.**

The anonymous messages started after they picked up Doctor T'soni on Therum. All Anonymous. All untraceable even for her. All fucking creepy. It pissed her off but she had to stay focused on Saren. She set a course for Feros and headed to the sanctuary of her quarters.

* * *

_From: Anonymous_

_To: Cmdr. Shepard_

_Subj: Image._

_Here's what I plan on doing to you._

…_with you._

_File included._

* * *

She didn't bother looking at the image. It would be as sick and twisted as the last one had been. She deleted the damn thing, and then pulled up a chat window.

* * *

_Inter-Relay Text Chat_

_Location: Hercules System_

_From: Rory_

_To Zaeed_

_22:17 R: You up?_

_22:23 Z: In more ways than one._

_22:24 R: Not right now, Zaeed. Please?_

_22:25 R: And stop raising your eyebrow at the chat, I can't see it. Have you been sending anonymous messages to me?_

_22:28 Z: Why the bloody hell would I do that?_

_22:29 R: You wouldn't. But I had to ask._

_22:31 Z: Why __kind__ of messages?_

_22:39 Z: Rory?_

_22:42 R: It's nothing. Just…a stupid prank, probably hazing the new ship commander._

_22:43 Z: Nothing? _

_22:47 R: I met another Mindoir survivor on the Citadel._

_22:48 Z: What survivor? I didn't think there were any others._

_22:49 R: Young girl. She…they took her from Mindoir. She somehow managed to escape after all these years._

_22:51 Z: Bloody hell._

_22:52 R: I had to talk her down from trying to shoot herself. _

_22:53 Z: Always with the goddamn heroics._

_22:54 R: All I could think was that could've been me…should've been me._

_22:56 Z: That's goddamn bullshit. _

_22:57 R: Thanks Zaeed._

_22:59 Z: Thank the bunny pajamas._

_23:01 R: Bastard. Are you ever going to let me forget about them?_

_23:02 Z: No._

_23:03 R: That poor girl was seriously fucked up. They did….she was fucked up._

_23:04 Z: Goddamn batarians._

_23:07 R: The batarians would have taken me, not killed me. You knew that._

_23:08 Z: I did._

_23:09 R: Always with the goddamn heroics._

_23:10 Z: I keep bloody telling you that it was the bunnies._

_23:12 R: Thanks for not letting me…_

_23:13 Z: …die a slow and painful death?_

_23:15 R: Yea. Night, Zaeed._

_23:15 User has disconnected._

* * *

Wrex and Garrus made the trek through the Feros colony with her. _Fucking plants._ She was going to need a few showers to get the gunk off of her. When she got back to the ship a few hours later, things in her quarters had been moved around. Nothing was missing, but it looked…felt like everything had been touched.

It bothered her enough to run scans on the room with her omni-tool. She found a hidden camera hidden just above her bed. She had no idea how long it had been there, or who planted it. She crushed it under her boot and then tossed it in the disposal. She started to send a message to Zaeed but closed it before she typed a word.

Fifth fleet command seemed determined to have the _Normandy _visit every goddamn system and planet. Before they headed for Noveria, she took care of the geth threat in the Armstong Cluster. She told Joker to head to the Citadel next. Nassana Dantius would want to know what happened to her sister. She met up with Nassana and then headed back to the ship.

While the crew was on shore-leave, Shepard ran scans all over the ship to see if there were any other hidden cameras but she found none. There was another message waiting for her when she checked her terminal. She deleted it with a growing sense of aggravation. She was going to check in with Engineer Adams when Alenko stepped into the elevator with her.

"Nice tattoo."

She frowned over at him. "Excuse me?"

"I saw it the other day when you were working out in the shuttle bay. The assault rifle tattoo that's on your side," Alenko explained.

"Yea."

"Why the M-8?" Kaidan followed her out of the elevator.

"It's personal." She walked towards engineering and he thankfully stayed behind to chat with Williams.

It wasn't until she was back upstairs in her quarters that she realized she couldn't remember seeing Alenko when she was in the shuttle bay the day before. The anonymous stalker was clearly starting to make her paranoid. She sat in front of her terminal an hour later trying to figure out what the hell she was going to do.

* * *

_Inter-Relay Text Chat_

_Location: Citadel_

_From: Rory_

_To: Zaeed_

_18:03 R: Zaeed? I need…_

_18:04 User has disconnected._


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N:**

**Word of warning, if you like Alenko, this will **_**not**_** be the story for you. He'll be a little OOC in this story.**

**This is AU-ish in a lot of ways, my stories always are. Rated M, mostly because I like to cuss like a sailor in life and in my stories.**

**Beta: CelticGrace. **

**Bioware owns all. Sadly.**

**Read. Enjoy. Review. Follow. Favorite. I'll love you forever lol.**

A beep on her omni-tool woke Shepard up at 0100. They'd just chased down a terrorist organization called Cerberus, but too late to rescue Admiral Kahoku. They'd move on to Noveria at 0800. She glanced down at her omni-tool to see what the beep was for.

_Incoming chat request from Zaeed massani._

_Request ignored._

She tried to go back to sleep but couldn't. She scanned her room for cameras…again. _Nothing._ The last few days had brought more anonymous messages and several chat requests from Zaeed. She ignored all of them. Massani would not wait forever though.

* * *

_From: Z. M._

_To: V. S._

_Subj: Chat Request_

_Accept the goddamn request before I hijack a bloody alliance vessel._

_Zaeed_

* * *

_From: Z. M._

_To: V. S._

_Subj: re: Chat Request_

_Tomorrow._

_I'm trying to sleep._

_Rory_

* * *

_From: Z. M._

_To: V. S._

_Subj: re: Chat Request_

_Now. _

_Zaeed_

* * *

"Of all the…" She muttered before pulling up the fucking chat again.

* * *

_Inter-Relay Text Chat_

_Location: Yangtze System_

_From: Rory_

_To: Zaeed_

_01:38 R: You can't hijack the Normandy._

_01:40 Z: if it means making sure you're ok, I goddamn will._

_01:41 R: Aww. You do care._

_01:43 Z: It's not like you to ignore me for days._

_01:44 R: I'm a little busy trying to find a rogue spectre._

_01:46 Z: So what did you need?_

_01:48 R: What?_

_01:49 Z: You sent me a message saying you needed something, then pulled a goddamn disappearing act._

_01:56 Z: Stop trying to think of a distraction._

_01:59 R: I need…advice…for one of the women on the Normandy._

_02:01 Z: Right._

_02:02 Z: What kind of advice?_

_02:04 R: Relationship advice…of a sort._

_02:05 Z: What goddamn relationship?_

_02:08 R: She's having…she thinks that she has a stalker. But maybe she's over-reacting._

_02:09 Z: A stalker?_

_02:11 R: Are you just going to repeat everything that I say? That's not helpful._

_02:12 Z: So what advice does __she__ need?_

_02:14 R: How does she tell if she's just being paranoid? _

_02:15 Z: It might help if you told me what was fucking happening._

_02:29 Z: Talk to me, Rory._

_02:31 R: She found a camera in her quarters. And there are other things…_

_02:32 Z: What other things?_

_02:34 User has disconnected._

* * *

Shepard couldn't tell him about the messages. He'd know that it was her if she did that, though he'd probably figured that out already. She couldn't get back to sleep so she decided to hang out with Joker on the CIC. The _Normandy_ was already on the way to Noveria. She wanted Saren found…the bastard. Once that was handled, she could figure out what to do about the anonymous messages.

* * *

_From: V.S._

_To: Z. M._

_Subj: re: Chat._

_Finish later? _

_Emergency mission._

_Rory_

* * *

"So spiders and talking plants." Garrus shook his head as they rode the tram back to Port Hanshan from Peak 15.

"C-sec looking a little more enticing?" Shepard grinned at him.

"A little calmer maybe," Garrus pulled her towards the back of the tram away from Wrex. "Shepard, I need to tell you something."

"Ok?" She frowned at the sudden serious tone in the turian's voice.

"I noticed Lieutenant Alenko go into your quarters earlier before we left for Noveria. It seemed strange," Garrus explained.

"Thanks, Garrus. I'm sure he just needed to leave a report for me." Shepard tried to play it off while her mind raced.

After the debrief, once she set a course for the Asgard System on the Galaxy Map, she walked into her quarters and immediately scanned the room. She wasn't surprised when she found another hidden camera. Things in her room had been moved again. She destroyed the camera and then sat at her desk staring at the terminal trying to decide what to do.

When they arrived on the asteroid, she still hadn't come up with anything. The biggest problem was that she had no fucking proof that it was Alenko. Garrus seeing him in her quarters wasn't proof. The batarian terrorists provided her with the perfect opportunity to work out some aggression. She hadn't wanted to let Balak go but she wouldn't risk the lives of the hostages.

Admiral Hackett had another damn _emergency_ mission for her. While the _Normandy_ headed to the Sol system, Shepard hung out on the bridge and followed up with Massani. Alenko kept his distance from Joker. Shepard found herself becoming more and more fond of the pilot. Plus, he always made her laugh.

* * *

_From: V. S._

_To: Z. M._

_Subj: Stalkers._

_She found another camera._

_And all of her things were…moved…just a little. Like someone picked them up and set them back down._

_Rory_

* * *

_From: Z. M._

_To: V. S._

_Subj: re: Stalkers._

_You aren't being paranoid. _

_Who the fuck is this bastard?_

_Zaeed_


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N:**

**Word of warning, if you like Alenko, this will **_**not**_** be the story for you. He'll be a little OOC in this story.**

**This is AU-ish in a lot of ways, my stories always are. Rated M, mostly because I like to cuss like a sailor in life and in my stories.**

**Beta: CelticGrace. **

**Bioware owns all. Sadly.**

**Read. Enjoy. Review. Follow. Favorite. I'll love you forever lol.**

_It should have been simple._

_It was __never__ simple._

Alenko was her anonymous stalker. She had no proof but she was fairly certain. It gave her yet another reason to keep him as far away as possible. She sent him with Captain Kirrahe and his STG group. She hadn't anticipated needing to choose who to save. _Goddamn Saren._ She could hear Zaeed in her head, _always with the goddamn heroics._ She decided to save the STG group and come back for Williams.

But they never made it back to Ash in time.

_Fucking Saren._

Udina ordered them to head to the Citadel after the debrief. Shepard sat in her quarters trying to figure out the best way to manage the Alenko situation. She needed more than her own intuition and Garrus' statement about seeing the Lieutenant in her quarters. Kaidan appeared so goddamn mild-mannered that no one would believe her.

* * *

_From: V. S._

_To: Z. M._

_Subj: Advice_

_I don't know what to do._

_Rory_

* * *

Shepard didn't get a chance to see Zaeed's response. They arrived on the _Normandy_ and were immediately fucked over by the politicians. The ship was locked out and they were ordered to stand down. She wandered aimlessly around the lower wards trying to get her temper under control. _Fucking Udina._ She was heading to catch a skycab when a hand grabbed her arm and pulled her into the secluded passageway where she'd met Tali for the first time.

"Let go of my arm before I remove yours." She tried to pull away from Alenko.

"I knew you felt the same away about me." He held her arm painfully tight.

"What the fuck are you talking about?" She glared at him. "I have _zero_ interest in you, Alenko. Zero!"

"No, no that's not true. You saved me on Virmire." His gaze was intense. Too intense.

"I chose to save the salarians, you just happened to be with them." Shepard yanked her arm out of his grasp. "Look, Kaidan, I've shown no interest in you. I don't know what the hell your problem is. Besides, I'm already seeing someone."

"Don't lie to me. I see how you watch me." Kaidan grabbed her arm again and started to pull her towards the door. "You care about me."

Shepard shoved him off of her. "I'm not going anywhere with you, Alenko."

His eyes narrowed. "Yes, you are."

"Has anyone ever told you that you're delusional?" Shepard started to walk away when all of a sudden, her whole body tingled. She realized that she couldn't move. _Shit._

"Never forget, that I can freeze you in place, anytime, anywhere." Alenko sneered at her. He started to say more but a C-sec officer entered the hallway. He was gone before the blue shimmer disappeared from her body.

Shepard shook with rage when the stasis finally released her. She decided to head back to the relative security of the _Normandy. _ She stepped into the elevator to C-sec Headquarters. Before the doors closed, someone slipped in between them. She sighed in resignation and glanced up expecting to find Alenko, instead, it was a more welcome person.

"Zaeed?" She launched herself into his arms with such force that he fell back against the wall.

"Ok, Rory, I think it's time you told me what the bloody hell is going on." He set her back down on her feet. The doors opened at C-sec but he hit the button to head back to the lower wards.

Zaeed grabbed her by the hand and led her through the market. He walked towards the housing area. Once inside a small apartment, he turned his attention back towards Shepard. But she wasn't ready to talk just yet. She needed to get the feeling of Alenko's hand on her out of her mind. There was really only one man's hand that she wanted on her body. They hadn't really been together since that month after Akuze but…she didn't think he would be an unwilling participant.

"I am not going to be bloody distracted." He gave her a warning look when she grinned at him.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." She slid her knee slowly between his legs.

"Rory."

"Yes?" She gave him an innocent smile before reaching down to slowly remove her chestplate and t-shirt. She'd forgotten about Alenko grabbing her arm until Zaeed grabbed her wrist to get a better look at the bruising on her arm. _ Fuck_.

"Who. The. Fuck. Grabbed. You." He ground each word out while turning her arm a little.

"I…uh…a Krogan…on Virmire." She stammered rather unconvincingly. She cleared her throat and tried for a different tactic. "I'm standing here without a fucking shirt on and all you're interested in is my arm? I'm hurt, Massani, very, very hurt by that."

He raised an eyebrow at her. "We'll come back to the bruises."

"Of course."

His hand moved from her wrist to glide along the tattoo on her ribcage. "You sure about this, Rory? The last time…"

"The last time?" She didn't really want to think about what had happened the last time. "I thought we agreed to let it go."

"We? I didn't bloody agree to a goddamn thing." He lifted her up by the waist and carried her into the bedroom. "You fucking bolted is what happened."

"I was reassigned. I didn't bolt." She glared at him when he tossed her on the bed.

"You bolted." He stood at the foot of the bed and began removing his armor. "And before I fucking touch you, you're going to tell me why."

"I am not going to…" Her voice trailed off when he stripped down to just his boxers. _Goddamn crafty fucker._

"You're not going to what, Rory?" He folded his arms across his chest and stood just out of reach watching her.

"You know why." She scooted back on the bed until she could lean against the headboard.

"I could always get dressed again." He nodded towards the pile of armor on the floor.

_Jackass. _

"I don't know." She didn't want to have this fucking conversation.

"Would you like me remind you then? You bloody tell me that you love me and then the next morning, you fucking bolted. I didn't hear from you for months, and when I did, you acted like nothing had happened. You haven't mentioned it since. Six goddamn years is a long fucking time, Rory."

"I was busy." It was a feeble excuse and a lie.

"Busy?" He started to reach for his clothes.

"Zaeed."

He paused with his hand on his pants. "What?"

"You are not an easy man to love. And…you didn't goddamn say anything so I panicked," she shrugged.

"For six bloody years?"

"Oh don't give me that look; you weren't exactly a fucking monk." She rolled her eyes at him.

"Celibacy is not a Massani trait." He moved over to sit on the edge of the bed.

"Exactly."

"Just answer one fucking question, Rory. Is this just about distracting me from that bruise on your arm? Or are you finally done with the panicking shit?" He reached out to trace his fingers around the edges of her rifle tattoo. "And for the record, you never gave me a chance to say a _goddamn_ thing."

"That's two questions...and a statement." She covered his fingers with her hand so she could think clearly. "It isn't _just_ about distracting you. And…yes, I do believe that I am 'done with the panicking.' What would you have said if I hadn't bolted?"

"You'll just have to wait to find out." He smirked at her. He chuckled when she glared at him. "Why don't we just see where this goes now? Hmm?"

She started to argue but he silenced her rather effectively with a kiss. His hand moved from her side to the top of her fatigue pants. He eased them down her legs and tossed them over his shoulder. She ran her hands along his arms and then up his chest. Six years hadn't changed him at all. If anything, his body was more defined then it had been then.

She grabbed him by the shoulders and pulled him down on the bed. Her fingers explored every inch of available skin on him. Six years had felt like a fucking century, and she wanted …needed…and then her goddamn comm beeped with an urgent message from Anderson.

"Do not goddamn leave me like this, Rory." Zaeed's fingers wrapped around her wrist when she started off the bed

"I have to go. Captain Anderson has a plan for how to get the fucking _Normandy _unlocked so I can go after Saren. He has to be stopped." Shepard ran her free hand across her face in annoyance. "I'm not bolting, I promise. There will be plenty of time _after_ I stop him."

"You better fucking make time." He pulled her in for a hard kiss before letting her go. "And we _are_ going to talk about your stalker."

"I know, I know." She muttered while rushing around getting dressed. She paused at the door before leaving. "Hey, Zaeed?"

He glanced up from where he was pulling his armor back on. "Yea?"

"I love you." She grinned at him then rushed from the room. She heard his muffled curse through the door.

The _Normandy _was making the jump to Ilos when she found time to follow up with him. She'd spent most of her time up to that point trying carefully to avoid being alone with Kaidan for any length of time.

* * *

_From: Z. M._

_To: V.S._

_Subj: Citadel_

_I'm on my way to check out a lead on Vido._

_We __will__ talk about the stalker situation when I get back._

_Zaeed._

* * *

Zaeed hunted a lead on Vido all the way to Tefnut. It turned out to be a fucking waste. By the time that he started to head back to the Citadel, the goddamn war with the geth was over. _Rory and her goddamn heroics._

* * *

_From: Z. M._

_To: V. S._

_Subj: Hero of the Citadel?_

_Really?_

_What have I bloody told you about saving yourself first?_

_Meet me on the Citadel tomorrow?_

_Zaeed_

* * *

_From: V.S._

_To: Z.M._

_Subj: re: Citadel_

_I can't._

_We're heading out to investigate some disappearing ships._

_I'm planning on heading back to the Citadel in a week or two. How about then?_

_Rory_

* * *

Three weeks later, news of the _Normandy's _destruction filtered through to the Citadel news stations. Zaeed expected another damn hospital stay for Rory. It wasn't until the list of dead or missing was released by the Alliance that he knew that she was gone. He saw the interview on ANN with the fucking pilot about how Shepard had shoved him into an escape pod.

_Always with the goddamn heroics._

They held several memorial services for her. They were several memorial sites set up for her. With no actual body recovered, it wasn't like they had a casket to bury or ashes to distribute. Zaeed headed to Mindoir. He wandered around the rebuilt colony until he found the small memorial that had been dedicated to Shepard. He pulled a tiny statue out of his pocket and set it at the base of the marble monument.

_Two years later…_

A solitary figure walked up to the memorial on Mindoir. Shepard had dressed in nondescript fatigues and had a ballcap pulled low over her head. She'd heard about the monument that they'd erected for her. She hadn't been back since that night when Zaeed rescued her. Now that she'd been brought back from the dead, it seemed like a fitting place to start.

She was turning around to head back to the ship when something caught her eye. She knelt to pick up the tiny figurine at the base of the memorial. _ A small bunny? _ She didn't know whether to laugh or sob. Zaeed had been here. He must've come to say goodbye. No one else knew about the bunny thing.

Two years was a long time.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N:**

**Word of warning, if you like Alenko, this will **_**not**_** be the story for you. He'll be a little OOC in this story.**

**This is AU-ish in a lot of ways, my stories always are. Rated M, mostly because I like to cuss like a sailor in life and in my stories.**

**Beta: CelticGrace. **

**Bioware owns all. Sadly.**

**Read. Enjoy. Review. Follow. Favorite. I'll love you forever lol.**

The dossiers from the Illusive Man had been…informative. She was heading to Omega to pick up the salarian doctor when she received another message from him about a deal he had struck with a mercenary veteran. _Zaeed Massani_. _'You may know the name.' _ Know the damn name? Shepard could remember every scar and tattoo on his body.

Shepard didn't find him on Omega when she finally arrived. Zaeed should have been waiting near the docking tube. She left the Cerberus stooges on board and headed to find the damn FBA couplings. The markets on Omega were an interesting place. She ducked around a small group of Vorcha only to feel the barrel of a rifle press into the back of her head.

_Shit._

She started to reach for her pistol but the gun pressed harder into her skull.

"Walk." A familiar growl ordered.

No point in arguing with him, she walked forward into an empty alcove. The rifle moved back and a hand hit her hard in the back. She stumbled into the wall and spun around to find the _mercenary veteran_. He stepped over to lift the hem of her shirt up. She knew what he was looking for and what he saw.

_No tattoo._

"Skin grafts." She tried to explain but a large forearm pressed against her throat. "I can't fucking breathe, Zaeed."

"What the bloody hell are you?" He glowered at her.

"I am not a what, jackass. And you know exactly who the hell I am. It's Rory, Commander Victoria Shepard." She rolled her eyes at him.

"She died." His jaw clenched tightly and the rifle was focused on her once again.

"It's…" She stammered trying to figuring out what to say. "Either kill me or tell me how the hell I can prove my identity."

"What were you wearing the night we met?" He asked.

"Pajamas. Bunny pajamas. I shot your damn bounty for you." Shepard saw the suspicion still lingering in his eyes. _Damn stubborn bastard. _"The tattoo that you were looking for on my side? It was an M-8 Avenger assault rifle. "

His arm pressed harder against her throat. "That's not a bloody secret."

"It's the rifle I used shoot the fucking batarian. And…" Shepard reached up to rest her hands on his arm. "Mostly though, it was for you…and your damn Jessie."

Zaeed look at her shrewdly. "That doesn't prove anything."

"For fuck's sake," she muttered. "You were my…"

"Your what?" He leaned in closer.

"My first…and last come to think of it." She tried unsuccessfully to push his arm away. "Is that fucking common knowledge?"

The arm at her throat went from practically strangling her against the wall to wrapping around her shoulders and pressing her into his body.

"You went to Mindoir." She commented when he finally released her.

"How the bloody hell did you know that?" He frowned at her.

Rory reached into her pocket to pull out a tiny rabbit figurine. "I found this there."

He touched a finger to the bunny. "Do I look like a flowers at a funeral kind of man?"

"No," Rory laughed. "So are you going to help with the Collectors?"

"Always with the goddamn heroics." He tried to grab the rabbit but she shoved it back into her pocket. He shook his head and laughed. "So, where are we going first?"

"To find a former STG doctor, Mordin Solus." She waited for him to stow his rifle before starting back towards the _Normandy._ "You can store your gear and then join me to find him."

"Planning on giving me orders, Rory?" He raised his eyebrows at her.

"Will I need to?" She ignored the suggestive overtones. Two years was a long damn time, she didn't know how to deal with that particular mine field. "Let's just get the damn doctor."

It took a good two days, but they finished up on Omega with both Garrus and Mordin recruited. Shepard intended to keep all the non-Cerberus crew and squad close to her. She didn't trust anyone who claimed any sort of loyalty to the terrorist bastards who had killed Kahoku. She told Joker to head for the Amada system; she wanted to pay her respects to the old _Normandy_. She sat in front of her terminal checking through messages.

* * *

_From: Anonymous_

_To: Cmdr. Shepard_

_Subj: Welcome back to the living._

_I missed you._

_Did you miss me?_

_See you soon._

_Image attached._

* * *

She deleted the message and paced in her quarters for a long while. It hadn't taken the bastard long to find out that she was alive. The little rabbit on her desk caught her eye. She decided to take advantage of the fact that Zaeed was now only a few decks away as opposed to a few systems away.

He was sitting on the edge of his cot smoking a cigarette when she entered the cargo bay. She sat next to him and stole the cigarette from him. She took a few puffs before he took it back from her. She grabbed it again but this time snuffed it out on the floor.

"I wasn't bloody finished." Zaeed scowled at her.

"Yes, yes you were." She turned to sit cross-legged on the cot facing him. She had a decision to make here. If dying had taught her anything, it was not to fucking waste time.

"Rory?"

She ignored his questioning gaze. Her hand reached out to grasp the buckles of his chestplate. He helped her push it off of him. His undershirt went next. Her fingers reached for the top of his pants when a tattoo on his chest caught her attention. She traced the two intertwined letters with her fingers – _R S_. She laid her hand flat against the tattoo; she could feel his heart beating underneath.

His hand came up to cover hers. "I missed you."

"I'd say I missed you too, but I was dead. I don't think I missed anything until I woke up on that damn hospital bed." She tried to move her hand but he held it tightly. "I don't recommend getting spaced."

"Next fucking time, Rory, you listen to what I told you after Akuze. You save your goddamn self, and then you fucking worry about other people." He used her hand to pull her closer to him. "We've got some unfinished business."

"Do we?" She shifted on the cot until she was straddling his legs with her hands resting on his shoulders for balance. "And what business is that?"

He let his fingertips lift up the hem of her tank-top. "You've bolted on me twice after saying that you loved me."

"I didn't know that I was going to die." She closed her eyes and enjoyed the feeling of his hands on her skin. "I miss my tattoos."

He ran his thumb along the side where her tattoo had been. "You can always get another one."

"Two years is a long time." She leaned her forehead against the top of his shoulder. "Is…is it too late?"

The hands on her sides gripped her tightly. "It is not too goddamn late. You've got air in your fucking lungs, and you are in my arms, and I am not letting you bloody go."

"Aww, does that mean you're going to get my name tattooed on your ass?" She grinned.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N:**

**The quote tattoo that Rory gets is from ~Jessie B. Rittenhouse.**

**This is AU-ish in a lot of ways, my stories always are. Rated M, mostly because I like to cuss like a sailor in life and in my stories.**

**Beta: CelticGrace. **

**Bioware owns all. Sadly.**

**Read. Enjoy. Review. Follow. Favorite. I'll love you forever lol.**

Zaeed was waiting for her in her quarters when she came back from Alchera. She'd stopped to have a secure package sent to Fifth Fleet with the tags that she'd recovered. She carried her old helmet over to her desk and set it beside the old datapad of Presly's that she found.

"Did you find what you were looking for?" He asked.

"Maybe?" She turned away from the damaged helmet. "Mostly, I just found the carcass of a great ship and a lot of fucking ghosts."

"You didn't have to go alone." He offered the cigarette that he was holding.

She took it from him. "I know, but…it's like when I visit Mindoir now, sometimes, things need to be walked alone."

"That's goddamn bullshit. You were wrong then, and you're wrong now. You don't have to face any of it alone." He held his hand out for the cigarette.

"You know, I'm sure smoking is against some ship regulation." She let him have it back.

"And?" He took a long drag from the cigarette.

"We're heading to Omega again." She sank down on the couch beside him and changed the subject.

"Why?"

"There's a brilliant asari tattoo artist that I want to visit." She leaned her head against his shoulder.

"Tattoo? Didn't you just get all the scars fixed?" Zaeed ran a finger across her cheek.

"Those were leftover from Cerberus putting me back together." She'd been thinking about a new tattoo for a while, since before she'd died actually. "My skin is too damn clean now."

"What are you getting?" He lifted his arm to drape it across her shoulders.

"You'll see."

"I'm coming with you." He let her take the cigarette again.

"Nope, sorry, just Garrus. I don't want you to get a look at it before it's done." She waved off the cigarette and stood back up. "We should be at Omega soon. You stay on the goddamn ship."

Zaeed rolled his eyes but was suspiciously silent when she headed over to the elevator. She was at the tattooist's for well over seven hours. The tattoo on her back took the longest. It was a Celtic cross with her parent's names etched into the lines of the cross. The tattoo on the inside of her left upper arm didn't take long to complete, it was quote that she'd found years ago and always intended to get. It was…more personal than the cross. And it was one that she wasn't sure she wanted anyone to see, not even Zaeed…and it was about him.

If Zaeed followed her, she never saw him. She didn't seem him until later when they were heading to Zorya. She wanted to let him take care of Vido Santiago once and for all. She knew their back story, and the bastard needed to die for what he'd done to Massani. She'd shown him the cross tattoo before putting her armor on, but avoided the one on her arm that was still covered by a bandage.

She brought Garrus because she didn't trust anyone else to go with them on a mission as personal as this one would obviously be. It turned out to be the right decision when Zaeed blew up the fucking gate to get them inside. _Shit._ She wanted to argue with him, but they didn't have time. They had to get inside the damn refinery before it exploded.

"Help! We're trapped!"

Shepard glanced up at the worker on the walkway above them then back at him. _Shit. _"We can't just leave them to die, Zaeed."

"I am not letting Vido get away, Rory." He grabbed her arm to start to drag her in the opposite direction.

She yanked her arm out of his grasp. "Are you serious? You just set the goddamn refinery on fire. If we go after Vido…"

"If?" He leaned down until he could whisper in her ear. "If? As I see it, you bloody owe me, Rory. I could've left you on Mindoir."

"You goddamn bastard." She slammed her fist straight into his jaw. "You…I can't…c'mon then, Massani, let's get your revenge. I hope that it's worth it."

He did get Vido. He set the fucker on fire and watched him burn to death. Shepard didn't watch. She waited in the shuttle with Garrus. She was afraid if she tried to speak to anyone…but particularly Zaeed...she'd lose her fucking mind. He'd never thrown Mindoir in her face before, in theory, she could understand but she'd never been good with dealing in the theoretical.

"Rory?" He sat next to her on the shuttle.

She stood and walked over to the other side of the shuttle, which really didn't offer that much space. _Blasted small shuttle. _

"C'mon sweetheart." He placed a hand on her shoulder.

She spun around and slammed her fist into his face for a second time. The punch caught him by surprise and he tripped backwards to the ground. She knelt beside him. "I don't want to fucking hear it, Zaeed. My _debt_ to you is paid in fucking full. The lives of all those innocent workers for mine, I don't think that's much of a bargain. Consider yourself free and clear of any responsibility as far as I'm concerned. In fact, consider yourself fucking free to stay the fuck away from me."

"Rory." He tried to grab her arm but she dodged him and went to sit next to Garrus.

Shepard headed straight for her quarters when they got back to the _Normandy _and told EDI to refuse entry to anyone stupid enough to bother her. She tossed her armor across the room, barely missed smashing it into the fish tank. She was a little more careful removing the bandages covering her tattoos; they needed a little breathing time. Her fatigues went next until she was left in a tank-top and panties.

* * *

Zaeed hacked his way into her quarters a couple of hours later to find her passed out asleep on the bed. Her arms were flung out to the side and for the first time he got a great view of the new quote tattooed on the inside of her upper arm.

_My debt to you, Beloved,_

_Is one I cannot pay_

_In any coin of any realm_

_On any reckoning day._

"Goddamn it, Rory." He sat on the edge of her bed and watched her sleep. He brushed the hair out of her eyes. "You're fucking worth every goddamn life out there."

He'd regretted the choice of words on Zorya almost immediately. Rory didn't owe him a fucking thing for saving her life on Mindoir. Revenge had been the all-consuming emotion in his life after the Collectors destroyed the first _Normandy_.

"EDI is fired as a bouncer," Rory muttered.

"I thought you were sleeping." He looked up from the tattoo to find her watching him.

"I was. You were thinking too loudly." She moved her head when he tried to touch her cheek.

"You do not owe me a goddamn thing for what happened on Mindoir, Rory. There was never a fucking debt." He ran a gentle finger across the tattoo on her arm. "No bloody debt. I'm sorry..."

She reached up to cover his mouth with her hand. "Vido needed to die."

"He did. But not at your expense." He spoke into her palm and then pulled her hand down with his. "I shouldn't have said what I did on Zorya."

"No, you fucking shouldn't, jackass." She tried to glare at him but ended up laughing instead. She turned serious though after a moment. "Listen, Zaeed, on any damn day, I have your back in a battle over anyone else, over the Alliance, or anything else in the universe. It's not about debt; it's about the fact that you are the only one that I can always count on. I was gonna get that for a tattoo but it was too fucking long."

"Do you take anything serious?" He chuckled.

"You." She let her fingers trail along the inner seam of his pants. "I take you very seriously."

"I thought you were pissed off?" He watched her fingers moving up his inner thigh.

"I was."

"And?"

" What can I say, I'm easily distracted. I had a very…interesting dream about you." She grinned.

"Oh?"

"Let me demonstrate." She moved her fingers up to the top button of his pants.


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N:**

**This is AU-ish in a lot of ways, my stories always are. Rated M, mostly because I like to cuss like a sailor in life and in my stories.**

**Beta: CelticGrace. **

**Bioware owns all. Sadly.**

**Read. Enjoy. Review. Follow. Favorite. I'll love you forever lol.**

The messages started up again while the _Normandy_ was on its way from the slowly burning Purgatory to Korlus to pick up the last of the dossiers that she had at the moment. Warlord Okeer did not sound like a barrel of laughs, but the Illusive Man insisted that he was necessary. Shepard chose to ignore the email from Alenko. She had a blue suns base full of fucking krogans to fight through.

There was another damn message waiting when she got back. Alenko clearly had a death wish. She decided not to mention it to Zaeed, probably because she had a fucking death wish as well. They made a pit stop on the Citadel after she released Grunt. Joker was not amused by the addition of yet another crazy on_ his_ ship. She wanted to see Anderson. She was on her way from the Presidium to Dark Star Lounge to meet up with Massani when a hand grabbed her wrist and dragged her into an isolated hallway.

_Fucking Alenko._

"Did you miss me?" He whispered in her ear.

She tried to pull away but his hand was practically crushing her wrist. "Let me go, asshole."

"Is that any way to treat an old friend?" His other hand brushed against her neck.

Shepard shoved her hands against his chest with enough force to send him crashing to the floor. She fled the room before he got back up to his feet. If he touched her again, she didn't think she could resist shooting the bastard, and she didn't want to risk his trying to using biotics against her.

She paused outside the bar to try to calm herself down. Zaeed was going to notice that her body was shaking with rage if she didn't. Finally, she headed over to join him at one of the tables on the far side of the lounge. He slid a glass over to her and she downed the contents in one gulp. She set the glass down and absently rubbed at her wrist. She stopped immediately when his gaze drifted down to her hand.

_Fuck._

He reached out and carefully removed her gauntlet. "That's a goddamn…"

"It's nothing." She pushed his hand away.

"Who grabbed you?" He lifted her arm to get a better look. "Rory?"

"It's…"

"Don't say nothing again." He waved the bartender away.

"Remember the stalker?" She felt his hand tighten on her arm. "I've received a few messages since I came back to life and I ran into him earlier, well, I didn't _run_ into him. He dragged me rather unwillingly into a hallway."

Zaeed ran a gentle finger around the bruising on her wrist. "He did this?"

She nodded.

"I'll kill the bastard. Who is it?" He released her arm. She had a feeling it was because he was so pissed off that he couldn't moderate the strength of his hold on her arm.

"I can't prove anything." Shepard insisted.

"Who. Is. It."

"An Alliance officer." She stood from the chair and started for the door.

He caught up with her as she started down the stairs. "Give me a name, Rory."

She held up a hand to stop him when EDI came over the comm to tell her that the Illusive Man wanted them to head to Horizon. Shepard managed to postpone the inevitable with Zaeed while they made a slight detour to the Iera system.

Alenko was supposed to be on Horizon. She wondered why the hell he'd shown up on the Citadel in the first place. But she had to put him out of her mind to focus on getting the Collectors away from the damn colony. Once EDI got the Gardian laser towers up and running, Shepard started to turn her attention to the colonists that weren't on the departing Collector vessel. She was trying to talk to the fucking mechanic when _he_ showed up.

"Commander Shepard, Captain of the _Normandy, _the first human spectre, Savior of the Citadel. You're in the presence of a legend, and a ghost." Alenko stepped towards her for a hug but Shepard held a hand out to stop him. "You don't seem happy to see me, Shepard."

"If you know what's good for you, Alenko, you'll stay right there." Shepard spun on her heel and headed towards the waiting shuttle.

"I wasn't finished, Commander." His hand grabbed her shoulder.

She shoved him away from her and pulled out her pistol. "Do. Not. Touch. Me. Ever. Again."

Shepard started walking to the shuttle again when she felt a familiar sensation and realized that the bastard had frozen her with a stasis again. _Goddamn motherfucking asshole._ Alenko stepped towards her. He was leaning in to touch her when a fist connected with his jaw and he hit the ground. The minute he fell, the blue shimmer around her disappeared.

"So you're the bastard that's been stalking her." Zaeed crouched down beside Kaidan. "Do that again, and I will goddamn bleed you and toss you into a varren pit."

"Who the fuck do you think you are?" Alenko started to get up only to be slammed back down to the ground.

"I'm the man who goes to bed with her every goddamn night." Massani grabbed him by the throat. "And if you ever even think about messaging her again, you'll find out who the fuck I am."

Shepard wondered for a brief second if he was going to really kill Alenko. But finally, Zaeed shoved him into the ground on last time and stood back up. He wrapped his arm around Shepard's shoulder and led her over to the Kodiak. She sank down into the closest seat and tried to ignore the concerned looks from Zaeed and Garrus.

"Were you going to tell me that Alenko was the stalker?" Zaeed crouched down in front of her so that they were at eye level.

"Eventually," she shrugged.

"Rory."

"Zaeed." She gave him a weak smile. "Look, it's hard when you've got no fucking proof that someone is stalking you. The messages were untraceable. He never touched me in front of anyone else. I was afraid that no one would believe me."

"I don't need anything other than your goddamn word." He pulled her helmet off so that he could brush her cheek with his knuckles. "You get any more fucking messages, you tell me, immediately."

"Yea, yea." She tried to look away but he turned her face back towards him. "I get it; you want to save me from everything."

"No. You can save your goddamn self on almost any bloody day. But that jackass crossed a line and I will goddamn bury him if he does it again." He shook his head.

Shepard could only laugh in response.

The minute that they were back on the _Normandy, s_he told Joker to get them anywhere but fucking Horizon. They could mine planets for a few days for all she cared. She grabbed one of the bottles of whiskey from the lounge and headed up to her cabin. Zaeed was waiting for her in the elevator. She handed the bottle to him when they reached the first deck. Her hands fumbled with her armor as she slowly removed it until she was left in a tank-top and shorts.

Zaeed poured her a drink and handed the glass to her. "You ok, Rory?"

She emptied the glass and set the glass on the coffee table. She moved over to crawl up on the bed. Her head rested on one of the pillows. He waited for her to respond but she didn't. He sighed and began to remove his own armor. He eased on to the bed behind her and pulled her back against him. His arms wrapped around her.

"So you're the man who goes to bed with me every night?" She remarked after a prolonged silence. "Really? That was the line that you decided to go with."

"It's the goddamn truth," he chuckled.

She rolled over so that she was facing him. "Never change, Zaeed, never fucking change."


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N:**

**This is AU-ish in a lot of ways, my stories always are. Rated M, mostly because I like to cuss like a sailor in life and in my stories.**

**Beta: CelticGrace. **

**Bioware owns all. Sadly.**

**Read. Enjoy. Review. Follow. Favorite. I'll love you forever lol.**

The sensation of fingers on her arm woke her up. She cracked open one eyelid to see Zaeed. He was tracing a finger over the tattoo on her arm. She blinked a few times before she got both of her eyes open.

"Did you really feel like you owed me a debt?" He continued running his finger over the quote. He covered her mouth before she could say anything. "Don't make a joke."

She pulled his hand away from her mouth. "I did, I do."

"Why?"

"You saved my life. And those long nights after Akuze, fuck, the long nights after Mindoir, you never left my side…never." She looked down at the R and S intertwined on his chest.

"Rory."

"No, you need to hear me out. This isn't a debt that…it's not really a debt." She stumbled over the words to try to fucking explain it to him. "Damn it, Zaeed. You saved my life. And then I fucking fell in love with you. It was a reason to fight…to live. And I can't ever repay _that_."

"You're in love with me."

"I already said that." She rolled her eyes and then frowned when he grabbed her arm tightly. "What are you doing?"

"Making sure that you don't fucking bolt before I can respond," he said with a smirk.

"Very amusing."

"Eight years ago, we started this conversation after you recovered from Akuze. And you ….you goddamn ran away from me." He leaned forward to kiss the tattoo on her arm. "I got the fucking tattoo over my heart for a reason."

"It was the only space available?" She grinned.

"There's no goddamn space available in there, you fucking filled it all up a long time ago." Zaeed wiped her smile away with an intense kiss.

Rory didn't get a chance to respond. Joker, with his typical amazing timing, interrupted to let her know that they'd arrived at Illium. She gave him a frustrated smile followed by a kiss, then they both started pulling on their armor. They couldn't afford to waste time. A couple of hours later, they were getting Thane settled in to Life Support. She had to head back to Illium for the damn justicar but paused to check her messages.

* * *

_From: __Anonymous_

_To: Cmdr. Shepard_

_Subj: Horizon_

_Shepard,_

I'm sorry for what I said back on Horizon. I spent two years pulling myself back together after you went down with the Normandy.

* * *

Shepard didn't bother to read the rest of the message. She should have deleted it immediately. _What the hell was Alenko thinking? _ He was acting like they'd been in a relationship. They were waiting for the cab to take them to the spaceport when she realized that she should probably mention the latest contact from Kaidan to Zaeed.

She wandered away from the skycar landing pad. Massani followed which she'd known would happen. He gave her a questioning look when she held up her omni-tool pulled to the message from Alenko so he could read it for himself.

"Forward it to me." It was all that Zaeed said before storming off. "I'll be back in twenty minutes, do not leave without me."

"Where the hell is Massani going?" Garrus stepped up behind her.

"I have no fucking idea." Rory watched Zaeed disappear through the nearby door. "Come on, Vakarian. Let's go buy some more fish."

"I can't eat fish." Garrus followed her over to the Memories of Illium kiosk.

"They aren't for eating." Shepard glared at him.

"Didn't you kill the last ones that you bought?" He pointed out.

"They had a tragic accident."

"It's not an accident when you forget to feed the silly things." Garrus appeared to have no sense of sympathy or understanding.

"Be nice or I'm going to tell Mordin that you need help calibrating the Thanix." Shepard grinned at the look of dread on the turian's face.

She managed to buy all the fish, ship models, armor, armor upgrades and star charts at every fucking kiosk before Zaeed showed back up. He didn't say a damn thing about where he'd been or why he had wanted the message. After they'd found the justicar, and gotten the damn information that she needed, Shepard cornered Zaeed in her quarters.

"Where the hell did you go?" She crossed her arms and tapped her foot on the ground.

He sat casually on the couch and pulled out a cigarette. "To get some information and to send a message."

"What information and what message?" Her foot continued to beat out an annoyed rhythm on the floor.

"I needed the goddamn bastard's location." He continued to smoke with an air of nonchalance that was really pissing her off.

"You can't kill an Alliance officer without…you can't kill him, Zaeed." Shepard dropped into one of the chairs across from the couch.

"Who said anything about killing? I sent him a warning," he shrugged.

"You're not going to tell me." She reached across the coffee table to steal his cigarette.

"Plausible deniability."

"Aww, have you been reading again?" She snickered around the cigarette.


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N:**

**This is AU-ish in a lot of ways, my stories always are. Rated M, mostly because I like to cuss like a sailor in life and in my stories.**

**Beta: CelticGrace. **

**Bioware owns all. Sadly.**

**Read. Enjoy. Review. Follow. Favorite. I'll love you forever lol.**

From Illium, Shepard decided to head straight for Tuchanka. Grunt's issues needed to be taken care of before he broke the damn ship. Joker would cry, and that would just be sad. She checked her messages before heading down to the shuttle bay. She wasn't all that surprised to find another _anonymous_ message. She'd known that Alenko wouldn't care about whatever Zaeed had done.

* * *

_From: Anonymous_

_To: Shepard_

_Subj: Intimidation._

_Tell the old man that I'm not afraid of him._

_I will have what's mine._

_And __you__ are mine._

* * *

Shepard clenched her hands tightly around the railing in front of her terminal. Kelly sent a concerned look her way which she ignored. Alenko definitely had a death wish. She _should have_ mentioned it to Zaeed immediately. But she didn't.

She probably should have told him about it on the way back to the _Normandy_ after they finished Grunt's puberty ritual and _not_ saving Mordin's old assistant. But she didn't. Instead, she set a course for Haestrom and pretended to be very busy going over reports in her quarters.

* * *

_From: Anonymous_

_To: Shepard_

_Subj: re messages_

_Do Not Ignore Me._

* * *

Damn it." Shepard slammed her fist into the desk in annoyance.

"Problems, Rory?"

She turned to find Zaeed stepping towards her. She reached behind her to close the terminal. She stared at her with a frown on his face. Rory sighed and caved fairly quickly. She turned to pull up the last message from Alenko.

"Is that the only one?" Zaeed asked.

She shook her head and scrolled up to the one that she'd received earlier in the day. "This is the other one."

"I'll kill him." He sounded furious. "I warned the bastard.

Rory reached up to cup his face with her hands. "You can't kill him. If you attack an Alliance officer…promise me that until we have solid proof, you won't touch him."

"No."

"Zaeed."

"No." He shook his head. "I will kill the bastard."

She muttered curses under her breath while trying to think of something to convince him not to touch Alenko. "Are you going to leave me to hunt him down?"

"What?"

"I'm not flying the _Normandy_ on a wild goose chase for you to kill him. So are you leaving?" Shepard leaned back against the desk.

"It won't take me long." Zaeed frowned at her.

"So you're going to leave me alone to go kill Alenko. I guess I can take Jacob with me down to Haestrom." Rory looked absently at her fingernails. "He is very buff."

Zaeed's eyes narrowed. "Buff?"

"Very. I saw him working out without his shirt on the other day. It was hot." She fanned herself with her hand before glancing over at him. "Stop grinding your teeth together."

"You're not going anywhere with Taylor." Zaeed stalked towards her. He rested his hands on either side of her on the desk.

"Oh?"

"Rory."

"Stop growling at me." She grinned up at him. "Are you staying?"

"Goddamn it."

"Is that a yes, Massani?" She reached a finger up to trace the tattoo on his neck. "Promise?"

"You cheating little…" He glared down at her. "I can't just let…"

"Commander, we've reached Haestrom." EDI interrupted him mid-sentence.

"Thanks EDI. Please ask Garrus and Mr. Taylor to meet me at the shuttle." She raised an eyebrow at him.

Zaeed leaned down to whisper in her ear. "That jackass is staying on the bloody ship, Rory."

"Correction, EDI, just tell Garrus to meet me there," Shepard chuckled.

He bit on her earlobe for a moment. "I will let Alenko go for now. That's all I can promise."

"Good enough." She ducked around him and headed for the elevator.

His hand shot out to grab her arm and yank her into his arms. He held her tightly up against the wall. His mouth descended on hers. "You leave the buff Mr. Taylor in the goddamn armory."

"But he's so pretty." Shepard winked at him. "You're growling again."

"I need to shoot something."


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N:**

**This is AU-ish in a lot of ways, my stories always are. Rated M, mostly because I like to cuss like a sailor in life and in my stories.**

**Beta: CelticGrace. **

**Bioware owns all. Sadly.**

**Read. Enjoy. Review. Follow. Favorite. I'll love you forever lol.**

"You use me as bait again, and I swear to god, I will blow you out of the fucking sky." Shepard warned the Illusive Man before storming out of the Comm Room. She ordered Joker to head to the Citadel.

"Bastard." Zaeed waited for her by the door to the Research Lab. He followed her towards the elevator.

"How the hell am I supposed to stop the Collectors if I have to worry about the Illusive Man screwing us over at every turn?" Shepard slammed her hand against the first deck button.

"Bastard."

"Helpful." She rolled her eyes at him.

"Why are we heading back to the Citadel again?"

"I need to find a package." She remarked mysteriously before stripping down and stepping into the shower.

Two hours later, Shepard hunted around Level 26 of the Zakera Ward for Ish's stupid package. Zaeed was going to meet her for lunch in thirty minutes. She was heading over to find a replacement visor for the one she damaged on the Collector ship when someone dragged her into a waiting skycar.

* * *

_Inter-Relay Text Chat_

_Location: Citadel_

_From: Zaeed_

_To: Shepard_

_13:01 Z: Ready for lunch?_

_13:17 Z: Rory?_

_13:23 User has disconnected._

_._

* * *

"_Rory? Where the hell are you? You were supposed to meet me thirty minutes ago." Zaeed's voice came over the comm in her ear. _

_Thank the gods._

She had to think quickly. Kaidan had been the one that grabbed her. But he didn't need to know that her comms were still working but she _needed_ Zaeed to know that something had definitely gone very wrong. She was seriously getting tired of the fucking biotic stasis. She'd tried fighting him but he'd frozen her in place.

_Bastard._

"How long can you hold me in stasis, Kaidan?" Shepard spoke calmly, conversationally. She needed to draw out the conversation and give Zaeed as much information as possible.

"_Kaidan? Talk to me, Rory." She could hear Zaeed starting to move._

"I can hold you there as long as I need." Alenko spoke from somewhere behind her.

"But not forever, I've never heard of a biotic who could hold a stasis longer than ten or fifteen minutes. Someone will eventually notice that I'm missing." She tried to turn her head to see him. "Where are we anyway? I don't remember seeing this part of the Citadel before."

"The Alliance keeps apartments for visiting officers. This is one of them. "Alenko sounded closer than he had before.

"_Keep the bastard talking. I've got EDI tracking you and trying to verify which apartment Alenko was assigned." Zaeed kept her updated._

Shepard was trying to think of something else to see when a hand touched her back. "Get your fucking hand off of me."

"Language, Shepard, language. You know that you want me." Alenko's hand continued to caress her back for a few moments before moving around in front of her. "You _are_ mine. I'll touch you if I want to."

"Fuck you, you bastard." Shepard lost her temper when he started unbuckling her armor.

"_I'll be there soon, Rory. I promise." Zaeed broke through her anger._

"I'm going to enjoy every moment of this." Alenko continued undressing her.

"Get the fuck away from me." She couldn't keep the slight panic from her voice.

"_What the hell is that bastard doing?" Zaeed asked. _

"Leave my shirt alone." She couldn't exactly give Zaeed a full running commentary without alerting Alenko.

"_Fucking hell."_

About the time that he got her down to a tank-top and underwear, his concentration started to fail and the stasis slipped. She took advantage of it immediately. She slammed her knee up into his groin and as he bent over caught him in the jaw with her fist. She yanked him up to her feet pausing a moment to turn the comm off.

"I recommend that you get the fuck out of here, right now. Massani will kill you, and I won't let him get tossed in the brig for a bastard like you. Touch me, message me, think about me again. And I will end you. Do you understand?" She had Alenko by the throat and shook him violently until he nodded in agreement.

Shepard threw him across the room. He scrambled out of the door. She bent over with her hands on her knees and it was that precise moment that Zaeed rushed into the room with a rifle in his hand. His eyes scanned the room for Alenko. Once he made sure that she was alone, he holstered the weapon and rushed over to her.

"Where is he?"

"No fucking clue." She stood up straight. "He's long gone."

"You let him go."

_It wasn't a question. _

"Yes."

Zaeed wrapped his arm around her west and pulled her in close. "Did he?"

"No. No. He got distracted and then, I kicked his fucking ass…well crotch." Rory let Zaeed guide her out of the apartment.

"Still up for lunch?"

She gave a shaky laugh. "You're buying."

Zaeed stopped walking and crushed her against him. "Fucking bastard. I'm not leaving you alone on a Cerberus vessel, but when we destroy the collectors. We're going to hunt Alenko down and gut the bastard."

"We?"

"You telling me that you don't want to fucking shoot him?" Zaeed asked.

"Fair point."


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N:**

**This is AU-ish in a lot of ways, my stories always are. Rated M, mostly because I like to cuss like a sailor in life and in my stories.**

**Beta: CelticGrace. **

**Thanks for the follows, favorites and reviews!**

**Bioware owns all. Sadly.**

**Read. Enjoy. Review. Follow. Favorite. I'll love you forever lol.**

On the ground in a pile of glass staring up at the Illium sky was _not_ how Rory had planned on helping Liara, it took Zaeed and Thane a few minutes to retrace their steps through the building. They took the long way. Shepard had gone through the fucking window after Vasir.

"Quit lying around, Rory." Zaeed offered his hand to help her up. "You hurt?"

"I'm fine." She waved him off and nodded towards incoming Shadow Broker forces. "We've got company."

By the time that they fought through the damn hotel and then the Shadow Broker's ship, she was really tired of lighting and over-sized monsters. Liara immediately got to work making the ship her own. Shepard read through the dossiers that he'd gathered on various individuals when one of the logs from Zaeed caught her attention.

* * *

_Hell, maybe I should just buy a ship full of explosives and commit suicide by Omega. Easiest retirement plan I've come up with so far._

* * *

She couldn't believe what she was reading.

_Suicide by omega?_

_Over her goddamn body._

After checking all the available files and learning more about her crew than she ever wanted to know, Shepard headed back to the _Normandy_ to have a _little chat_ with Massani. She found him reclining on her couch. He had a glass of what was probably scotch in his hand.

"The Shadow Broker had an interesting collection of files." She leaned back against aquarium.

"Oh?"

"Yep. So Elyisum, Earth, Illium? Or maybe suicide by Omega? That's your retirement plan? Am I supposed to fly into it with you?" Rory glared at him.

Zaeed set his glass down carefully. "Rory."

"No, don't, 'Rory'me, bastard. I can't fucking believe that you think suicide is your best fucking retirement plan." She was not letting him off easily. "I get through Mindoir and Akuze without thinking about suicide because I had you. But you decided that fucking fly your stupid ass into Omega would be a good option?"

"It was one idea." He motioned for her to sit beside him.

She stayed where she was. "Leave. Liara's coming for a drink. And I really don't want to talk to you anymore."

"Seemed more like yelling than talking," he remarked.

"Fuck you."

Without waiting for his response, she stepped into the bathroom to shower and change. He was gone when she came out thirty minutes later in clean fatigues. It wasn't until later when Liara headed back to her new _home _that Shepard was able to get a better look at the melted tags that T'soni had brought.

"We need to talk." Zaeed stepped into the room an hour later.

Shepard threw her tags at him. "Apparently, Admiral Hackett sent my old tags to me. That's what happens when someone goes up in flames, I remember every agonizing moment of it distinctly. So don't you dare fucking do that to me."

"Rory." Zaeed wrapped his arms tightly around her.

"Promise me, goddamn it." She poked him in the chest. "Promise."

"If you're here, Rory, why the bloody hell would I go anywhere?" He asked.

"Promise," Shepard insisted.

"I bloody promise."

He was carrying her over to the bed when EDI informed her that they had arrived at Aite. They'd received another emergency transmission from the Cerberus research facility. Shepard gave Zaeed a grin and they both headed towards the elevator.

_Fucking Cerberus._

When they got back to the _Normandy _several hours later, Shepard told Joker to head for Grissom Academy. They needed to drop off David Archer. He'd have a chance at a real life at the Academy.

She pilfered a cigarette from Zaeed's pack and sat staring at her tags smoking. She thought batarians were bad, but at least they were honest about what they did to humans. Cerberus claimed to be working to help humanity, yet David had endured hell at the hands of his own brother.

"So, about my goddamn retirement plan." Zaeed stepped into the room and sat beside her on the couch. He ran his finger of the melted tags in her hand.

"Yes?"

"How do you feel about Eden Prime?" He took her tags from her to get a better look.

"Are you asking me to shack up with you, Massani?" She grinned at him.

"Rory."

She laid her head on his arm. "I'll take that as a yes. I'll have to think about it and get back with you."

"_Rory._"


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N:**

**This is AU-ish in a lot of ways, my stories always are. Rated M, mostly because I like to cuss like a sailor in life and in my stories.**

**Beta: CelticGrace. **

**Thanks for the follows, favorites and reviews!**

**Bioware owns all. Sadly.**

**Read. Enjoy. Review. Follow. Favorite. I'll love you forever lol.**

Zaeed found Rory in her quarters. The _Normandy _had hopped from Omega to the Citadel to Pragia to the goddamn quarian fleet in the last week running errands for the bloody crew. She had to be close to exhaustion by now. She was lying on her back on the bed staring up at the viewing window overhead. Her melted dogtags clenched tightly in her hand.

"Do you know the last thing that I thought as I gasped for air before I died?" She kept her eyes on the stars flying by. "I thought about you. I thought Zaeed is going to be so fucking pissed off. I tried to…my hands couldn't find the damn leak in my suit. And all I can think of now is what the hell must my body have looked like when they recovered it? How the hell did Cerberus bring me back? Getting spaced had to have done some serious damage. Am I…"

Zaeed frowned down at her as he walked over to the bed. This didn't sound like Rory. He eased on the bed beside her and tried to pull her into his arms. She pushed him away.

"Rory?"

She finally rolled over on her side with a sigh. "He sent me another message."

"Alenko?"

She nodded. "You can shoot the fucker next time."

"I was planning on it." Zaeed meant it to. He had no intention of letting Alenko get away with torturing Rory for so long. He'd wait until she was no longer with Cerberus first. He didn't give a damn what the Alliance had to say about it. "What did the message say?"

"I can't remember." She rolled on her back again.

"Rory."

"I can't and it seems to have mysteriously disappeared from my inbox." Shepard grinned.

_There were days when Rory was the most infuriating woman that he'd ever met._

"Why were you thinking about getting spaced?" He decided to come back to Alenko later.

"Liara. She gave my body to Cerberus. I sent her a message earlier asking about what condition it was in. She refused to tell me. I'm guessing that's a really bad sign." Rory pushed herself up off the bed and headed over to the fishtank.

Zaeed swung around until he was sitting on the edge of the bed. "Forget Alenko, forget Cerberus. What's bugging you?"

"We're heading to pick up the Reaper IFF and then we're going through the Omega-4 relay." She glanced over her shoulder at him. "Fifteen years."

"Fifteen bloody years what?"

"Commander?" Joker interrupted before she could answer him.

"What is it, Joker?" Shepard lifted a hand up to feed the fish.

"We've arrived at Mindoir. You said you wanted to take the shuttle down." Joker answered.

"Mindoir?"

Shepard ignored Zaeed's question and headed for the door. He followed her into the elevator and tried to get an answer. Something about the fifteen years comment was pulling at his memory, and then it dawned on him.

"We met fifteen years ago today." He wrapped an arm around her shoulder despite her protest and pulled her close.

"We did. I wanted to go see…I've run everyone else's fucking errands. I thought maybe it was time that I said goodbye to what's left of the farm." She shrugged before looking up at him. "You want to go with me?"

He gave her an amused look. "Do you really fucking think I'd let you make this bloody trip alone?"

"Clingy bastard," she grinned but the smile didn't quite reach her eyes.

The silence bothered him the most. Rory was sarcastic and chatty most days. Now she wandered through the colony in silence, he wondered if she even remembered that he was there. It didn't take them long to find her family's old farm on the outskirts of the colony. It was an empty plot. He thought that she'd stop there but she kept walking down the path.

He could hear her counting off numbers under her breath. "What the bloody hell are you doing?"

She waved her hand at him and continued walking and counting. This went on for a good ten minutes before she finally stopped in the middle of the dirt road. She turned around towards him with a grin on her face.

He raised his eyebrow and waited for an explanation.

"The night that the batarians attacked, my mom pushed me out the back door and told me to run. I froze outside our gate. I couldn't get my legs to work. So I finally crawled on my hands and knees. I distracted myself by counting off the steps it took to get away. I've never forgotten the number. It's what the lines of the cross on my back represent." She kicked at the dirt before looking up to meet his eyes. "We met…right here."

_Fucking hell._

Zaeed grabbed her and yanked her hard against him. His hands slid into her hair as he kissed her. "Best goddamn bounty that I've ever taken."

"I killed the fucker for you." She chuckled against his lips.

"That's what I mean. I got paid and didn't have to do a bloody thing." He grunted when she jabbed him in the side. "Then again, you've been a lot of fucking working. I should've charged the bastards more."

"Me?"

"Love is a fucking hard task master." He laughed at the indignant look on her face before draping his arm across her shoulder and leading her back towards the waiting shuttle. "You done with your ghosts, Rory?"

She nodded before smirking up at him. "Yea, I've got all the ancient history that I need, right here. Ancient history that snores…loudly."

_The little bitch._

She dodged out-of-the-way when he tried to smack her on the ass. He thought that they'd head straight for the shuttle; instead, she headed into the colony to the monument that they'd set up to colonists who died. Shepard pulled her melted tags out of her pocket to lie at the base of it. She touched a hand to her parents' names then she finally let him lead her back to the Kodiak.

"Zaeed?"

He glanced up in surprise when she finally spoke an hour later when they were in her quarters again and the _Normandy_ was on its way to the Thorne System. "Yeah?"

"Did you ever think about leaving me that night?" She asked. And he wondered how long that question had bugged her.

"No."

She sat up in bed and moved over to the couch where he was smoking. She grabbed the cigarette and curled up in his lap. She puffed for a moment then handed it back to him. He crushed it into the ashtray on the coffee table.

"Never? Not even once?"

"Maybe once." He chuckled when she elbowed him in the side. "I was not leaving you…in your goddamn bunny pajamas…alone in the middle of a slaver massacre. I might be a fucking bastard but really?"

"Always with the pajamas." She groaned. "Whatever happened to the damn things? You used to wear them when I wasn't around, didn't you?"

"I will turn you over on my goddamn knee and spank you." He growled at her.

"Promise?"

"Rory." He buried his face against her neck and tried to ignore the images that conjured for him.

She started to shake with laughter.

"What the bloody hell are you laughing at?"

"You…in bunny pajamas." She laughed even harder and ended up falling out of his lap. She lay on her back between the couch and the coffee table. "Oh god, if I buy a pair, will you please wear them for me?"

"No."

"But I could find a pair in yellow and black." Tears poured down her cheeks as the laughter continued.

"No."


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N:**

**This is AU-ish in a lot of ways, my stories always are. Rated M, mostly because I like to cuss like a sailor in life and in my stories.**

**Beta: CelticGrace. **

**Thanks for the follows, favorites and reviews!**

**Bioware owns all. Sadly.**

**Read. Enjoy. Review. Follow. Favorite. I'll love you forever lol.**

If Shepard had known what Admiral Hackett wanted, she would've made Zaeed leave the room or taken the vid-comm in another room, anywhere but where Massani could hear. The minute he mentioned Batarians, Zaeed was on high-fucking-alert. Getting him to stay on the _Normandy _would take a miracle or she'd have to be sneaky. She told Joker to head for the Bahak system before facing the man sitting on the edge of her bed.

"No."

"I haven't even said anything." She walked from her private terminal to stand in front of him.

He rested firm hands on her hips. "You're going to try to tell me that you need to _bloody_ go into a goddamn batarian prison camp alone and that everything will be _fine."_

"Glad you agree." Shepard grinned at him.

"Rory."

You heard Hackett. It would be too conspicuous if you went with me." She tried to reason with him.

_Why was she bothering with logic._

"Or less." He disagreed.

O_f course he disagreed._

"Zaeed. Seriously, it's not the first time I've gone on a mission alone. I'm a fucking N7. I'll be fine." She didn't see why he was so bothered by this. "I can handle myself. What is your problem?"

"Batarians." He spat the word out.

"And?" Rory sighed. "I've fought them before."

"Rory."

"Will you stop saying my name like it's going to magically change my mind?" She poked him in the forehead. "I'm going and I'm going alone."

He reached up to grab her wrist. "No, you aren't."

"Are you going to stop me?" She stepped back and eased her arm out of his grasp. "This is my ship, my rules."

Zaeed stood up and followed her across the room. He backed her up against the glass of the aquarium. Shepard reached down to grab the hem of his shirt and pull it over his head. There was more than one way to get around Massani and she had an idea. She placed her hand over the tattoo of her initials on his chest.

"I will not be bloody distracted by…" Zaeed stopped mid-sentence when she traced the tattoo with her tongue. He grabbed her by the waist and dragged her over to the bed. "We can argue later."

"Fair enough."

* * *

Zaeed woke up a couple of hours later when EDI informed Shepard that they had arrived in batarian space. He tried to sit up only to find his wrists cuffed to the bed. He turned his head to look at the bindings on his arms and then over to find Rory at the foot of the bed.

"I found these amazing handcuffs on Illium. They have a timer mechanism. So in about an hour, they'll release you. Oh, and before you get any ideas about using them on me, you should know that they're coded to my biometrics." Rory grinned at him, and then headed out of the room.

Zaeed didn't bother yelling after her. Rory was as fucking stubborn as he was. He yanked at the cuffs once to see if there was any give. _No bloody luck_. True to her word, an hour after she left, the fucking things fell off of his wrists. He tossed them aside and quickly pulled on his armor. He headed down to the bridge to see if it was possible to take the shuttle down to help her out.

"What the hell do you mean you don't know where she bloody is? She's supposed to be rescuing that doctor from Aratoht." He hadn't gotten the answer that he wanted from Joker.

"They left Aratoht twenty minutes ago, and we haven't been able to track her." Joker shrugged. "I'm sure she's fine."

"Patch me through to her comm." Zaeed turned to the blue fucking orb.

"Commander Shepard requested that…"

"She's not on the goddamn ship, now patch me through." Zaeed refused to argue with a fucking AI.

"Patching you through."

He paced along walkway to bridge waiting for the connection on his comm. It took a few seconds but then he heard what sounded like gunfire…a lot of gunfire. "Rory?"

"I'm busy."

"So I hear. What the fucking hell is going on?" He thought he heard voices in the background but he couldn't make out what they were saying. "Aren't you supposed to be on an Alliance research base?"

"Yea, about that…they're all fucking indoctrinated." Rory muttered before he heard another volley of gunfire.

"Shit."

"Yes, thank you for that brilliant assessment of my situation. Now get the fuck off my comm, you're distracting me." She sounded injured.

"Are you hurt?" He glanced up to meet Joker's eyes. He listened carefully; there were multiple shooters with different weapons. He thought he even heard a fucking flamethrower. _How many fucking bastards was she fighting? _"Rory? Answer me damn it."

"Define hurt." Her voice was so low that he almost didn't hear her.

"Where the hell are you?" Zaeed was going to kill her…no he was going to fucking kill Admiral Hackett.

"You might have been right." Rory was definitely injured.

Then he heard the unmistakably sound of a Ymir mech. He heard a missile explosion and what sounded like a body hitting a wall.

"_Rory._"

He didn't hear anything and then a voice he didn't recognize spoke.

'_Take her to the Med-Bay and patch her up. We want Shepard alive.'_

Two fucking days. It was two fucking days before they heard anything from her again. And it was a relayed message from a comm VI. While Joker flew them over to the asteroid, Zaeed waited by the airlock to race out to help her on the ship. She shoved him away impatiently and ordered Joker to make the hop out of the system and head for Arcturus. She limped over to the galaxy map and watched the Bahak system flash for a moment then disappear.

"Son-of-a-bitch." She slammed the palms of her hands against the railing. "Son-of-a-bitch."

He waited for her to turn around and was about to start in on her when she crumpled at his feet. _Bloody hell._ Zaeed lifted her up into his arms and rushed her into the elevator. He could yell at her later, when Chakwas had made sure that everything was ok.

Admiral Hackett arrived an hour or two later while Shepard was still passed out. She was pretty beat up but no life-threatening injuries. Hackett spoke in undertones to the doc while Zaeed glared at him. He glanced down at Rory to find her starting to wake up. He helped her sit up on the edge of the bed.

"What the hell happened out there, Commander?" Hackett asked while stepping over to Shepard.

_Fucking bastard._

Zaeed spun around to grab the Admiral by the front of his uniform. He shoved him up against the doc's desk. "You bloody bastard. She fought of indoctrinated Alliance soldiers because of you. You don't fucking question her. You hear me, jackass?"

"Zaeed." He felt a hand on his back. "Put the Admiral down."

He started to raise his fist up but found Rory's hand covering it. She pulled him back and shoved him towards the door. He glared back at the Admiral. "I'm not finished."

"You can yell at me once he finishes yelling at me for killing a bunch of batarians." Rory pushed him all the way out of the Med Bay then stepped back inside with a wink.

* * *

The conversation with Hackett had been less yelling but still hadn't exactly gone well. She found Zaeed in her quarters afterwards. He sat on the couch with a cigarette dangling from his mouth. Rory stepped over his legs that were propped up on the coffee table and dropped down on sofa beside him. She grabbed the cigarette and took a long puff of it.

She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. "Are you going to yell?"

He was silent.

_Bad sign._

"Are you going to say anything?" She offered the cigarette back to him which he ignored so she shoved it into the nearby ashtray.

_Shit._

"I should go see if we have everything set up for the Reaper IFF." She started to stand but a hand grabbed the back of her shirt and pulled her back on the couch. "So…we're just going to sit here in annoyingly awkward silence until you're ready to yell at me. That's fucking fabulous"

"You handcuffed me to the fucking bed." He spoke five minutes later.

"I did." She coughed loudly to try to hide her laughter. "It was kind of a shame to waste those on a mission to batarian space."

"Rory."

"What? Can you honestly tell me that in the hour you were stuck on that bad, you didn't once think about the possibilities?" She grinned at the look on his face. "I knew it."

"_Rory._"

"What? It could've been worse. You could've woken up handcuffed in bunny pajamas." She would never admit to him that she'd briefly considered it. He might actually kill her.

"I thought they killed you." The look in Zaeed's eyes wiped the humor from hers.

"I had to…" She turned away unable to meet his gaze for once. "I think I prefer the yelling."

He grabbed her chin and forced her towards him. "Do not ever fucking do that again. The next fucking time you want to go on a mission, you take someone with you, even if it isn't me. I don't give a damn what Admiral Hackett or anyone else has to say."

"I'd like to point out that it wasn't the batarians that caused all the problems, it was the fucking indoctrinated Alliance people." Rory lifted her fingers to play with the scruff on his jaw. "Also, the next time a mech fires a missile, remind me to fucking duck."

"Damn it."

"What? I didn't know they'd have a fucking mech." She grinned. "So…do you want a demonstration of what I actually got the handcuffs for?"


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N:**

**This is AU-ish in a lot of ways, my stories always are. Rated M, mostly because I like to cuss like a sailor in life and in my stories.**

**Beta: CelticGrace. **

**Thanks for the follows, favorites and reviews!**

**Bioware owns all. Sadly.**

**Read. Enjoy. Review. Follow. Favorite. I'll love you forever lol.**

The past twenty –four hours had not gone all that well for Rory. The collectors had taken her crew. They'd crashed on the collector base. And then there'd been a giant human reaper. And of course the Illusive Man had tried to convince her to not nuke the place, which she'd politely told him go fuck himself.

"Go, Shepard." Zaeed shoved her towards the waiting _Normandy._

"You first, I've got to get Garrus." She ran back towards the turian and pushed him in front of her.

They all raced to the open airlock hatch. Zaeed made the leap followed by Vakarian. Shepard paused to take a shot at one of the collectors chasing them. A swarm of the tiny drones drew closer and she sprinted up the last two platforms and made the jump towards the _Normandy_. She hit the edge of the ship and fell. Her hand tried to get a firm grasp but failed.

Zaeed shot forward to grab her forearm. She wrapped her hand around his arm and held on tightly as he pulled her up into the ship. He kept muttering about goddamn heroics and stupid fucking risks. She tuned him out and completely missed his whispered proposal.

_Bloody woman_.

He'd never really considered marriage. Bounty hunters don't have weddings or wedding rings. They have sexual escapades. They also didn't have initials tattooed over their heart. He let Shepard deal with the Illusive Man and getting the _Normandy _cleaned up enough to head to dry-dock at the Citadel. He needed to find a way to propose when she was actually paying attention to him.

"There you are." Shepard stepped into her quarters an hour later to find him sitting on the couch.

He glanced up at her when she walked in; he tossed the ring in his hand to her. "Been waiting for you."

She snatched the ring out of the air and glanced down at it. It was a simple platinum band engraved with two sets of initials on the sides, the design looked similar to the tattoo that he had on his chest and on the top, instead of a stone, was a rabbit. She turned the ring over in her fingers before looking up at him. He propped his feet up on the table.

"I don't understand. What is this?" She asked.

"I had this made after Akuze, but you never gave me the chance to give it to you." He waited for her to figure it out.

"But why?"

_Rory never made things easy for him._

"You just don't seem like a diamond or delicate gem kind of girl to me." He watched her continue to stare down at the ring.

"Diamond?" She looked up at him. "Oh my fucking god."

"Is that a yes? Cause I'm not getting down on my goddamn knee." Zaeed smirked at her.

"It is a yes, Zaeed, of course it's fucking yes." She slid the ring on her finger. "But I uh…there's something I need to tell you."

He watched her twist the ring on her finger. "If it's a yes, why do you suddenly look miserable?"

Rory wandered over to sit beside him but she resisted when he tried to pull her into his lap. "The _Normandy_ is heading to dry-dock on the Citadel for repairs. It should take a couple of days, and then I'm heading to Earth with Joker and Doctor Chakwas."

"Why?"

"I caused the death of a lot of batarians. They want someone to blame. The Alliance can't offer me up on a platter, I'd be dead the minute the batarians had a hold of me. So instead, I'm going to stand before an Alliance committee to answer questions about my involvement and about the reapers." Rory was holding something back.

"And what else?"

She rolled her eyes at him. "I'll be…arrested when we get to Earth. And…you have to stay on the Citadel. You can't be on the ship when we get to dock in Vancouver."

"If you fucking think that I'm…"

"Anyone who walks off the _Normandy_ will be considered a threat because of our _ties_ to Cerberus. You're not getting fucking arrested with me. So deal with it." Rory surged off of the couch and stormed out of the room.

The elevator doors were already closed by the time he got there.

_Goddamn bloody Alliance._

* * *

_From: Admiral Hackett_

_To: Commander Shepard_

_Subj: Citadel._

_I understand that the Normandy has docked for repairs._

_Councilor Anderson has resigned his post on the council and has returned to active duty in the Alliance. Admiral Anderson will meet you on the Citadel with a contingent of Alliance officers for the trip to Earth._

_I'd recommend that any non-essential, non-former Alliance crew members be long gone before they arrive tomorrow morning at 0800._

_I'll do my best to soften the blow for you, Commander._

_Just remember, you did a damn good thing out there. Regardless of what the committee tells you._

_Admiral Hackett_

* * *

By 0600, the only person that hadn't left was Zaeed. They'd argued through the night about his departure. It wasn't how she wanted to spend her last hours with him. But he was a stubborn fucker and argued even as she shoved him out of the airlock. The bastard didn't even say goodbye, he just stormed away. It was all Rory could do to not race after him. Instead, she turned around and trudge back on the ship to wait for Anderson.

The strange crew that was on the _Normandy _for the trip back to Earth did not make Rory happy. Anderson had introduced her to Lieutenant Vega who would be shadowing her every fucking move. Though as shadows went, at least he was a very handsome one.

The presence of Alenko in the group had made her uneasy from the get go. Admiral Anderson hadn't understood her hesitation but she had a feeling he just shrugged it off as relating to the incident on Horizon. She tried to stay as far away from Kaidan as possible while they made the jump to the Sol system.

She'd been successful until he dragged her into Life Support while she was taking one last tour of _her_ ship. He pushed her up against the wall. She shoved him away. This time his hand was around her throat as he slammed her into the wall.

"The hell do you think you're doing, Pendejo?" Vega grabbed Alenko by the back of the neck and dragged him out of the room.

Shepard slid to the floor. She pulled herself to her feet and found Vega watching her with concern. "I'm fine. Don't mention that to Anderson, please."

"What the hell was that about?" He asked.

"Alenko…the _Major_ has been stalking me for years. He doesn't seem to understand that no means no." Shepard tried to shrug it off. "Thanks for intervening. "

"You should report the fucker." James followed her out of the room.

"I've got no proof." She glanced up at him. "And technically, you just assaulted a higher-ranking officer."

"Look, Commander, if that pendejo touches you again, shoot the bastard. Or let me do it for you." Vega stepped into the elevator with her and hit the button for the first deck. "Admiral Anderson wanted to speak with you."

"I'm not a Commander anymore." Shepard reminded him.

"Ok, _Commander_."

"I think I'm going to like having you around, Vega." Shepard laughed.

"That's good, because we're stuck together until the idiots on the defense committee realize that you're a hero and not a criminal." Vega led her into her own damn quarters. He paused before the door. "I'll keep an eye out for the Major."

"What can I do for you, Anderson?" Shepard asked when she walked into her…his quarters.

"We'll arrive in about thirty minutes. Vega's going to escort you to the brig." Anderson stared down at his hands for a moment. "I need you to explain something to me."

"What's that?" She frowned at him.

He stepped over to the terminal in the room to pull up a vid. It was a collection of security footage from the Citadel and the _Normandy_. It showed several of the times that Alenko had attacked her, complete with audio. _ Shit_. Anderson placed a hand on her shoulder.

"When did this start?" He led her over to the couch.

"Anderson."

"When?" He made the question sound like an order. She really hated when he did that.

"On the original _Normandy."_

"Why the hell did you not tell me?" Anderson looked hurt.

"Look, we've got bigger problems than Alenko. Just leave it for now, once this is all over, once he's made his statements to the council about the reapers, then you can do whatever the hell you want with the footage." Shepard moved away to look at the empty aquarium. Chambers had taken the fish. Her hamster appeared to be missing as well. She turned back to face the Admiral. "Just keep him away from me."

"Fine, we'll handle this your way for now." Anderson wasn't happy. "Also, there was a message attached to the footage. I believe it's meant for you. I'll see you on the CIC."

She waited for Anderson to leave before pulling up the message.

* * *

_From: Z.M._

_To: R.S._

_Subj: Earth._

_Remember what I bloody said after Akuze_

_And remember what that goddamn ring on your finger means._

_I love you._


	17. Chapter 17

**A/N:**

**This is AU-ish in a lot of ways, my stories always are. Rated M, mostly because I like to cuss like a sailor in life and in my stories.**

**Beta: CelticGrace. **

**Thanks for the follows, favorites and reviews!**

**Bioware owns all. Sadly.**

**Read. Enjoy. Review. Follow. Favorite. I'll love you forever lol.**

Shepard had been sitting in her cell for three months when she finally got the chance to step outside the damn walls. Vega had been allowed to take her for a walk around the Alliance compound. The fresh air was…refreshing. He led her over to a set of benches that looked over one of the gardens.

"You've got thirty minutes," he murmured to her before wandering off.

"What?" She swung her head to the left to watch him walk away then swung it back to the right when someone sat beside her. She looked up into a familiar pair of mismatched blue eyes. "How the fucking hell…"

"I called in a few favors." Zaeed wrapped his arm around her shoulder.

She leaned her head against his chest. "A few favors?"

"Admiral Hackett was very appreciative of the fact that I didn't hijack the _Normandy_," Zaeed chuckled.

"The brig is very lonely." She rested her fingers on the collar of his shirt.

He lifted a hand to hold hers; his finger turned the ring on hers. "I believe that I mentioned that."

"Bastard." She glared at him. "Be nice, or I won't tell you about the tattoo that I got."

"You're in the goddamn brig. How the hell did you manage to get a new tattoo?" Zaeed raised an eyebrow at her.

"Vega's handy like that. He knew a guy who knew a guy who knew a girl with a tattoo gun with Alliance clearance." She grinned at him. "You want to see it?"

"Rory."

"I'll take that as a yes." She glanced around before reaching up to pull down the collar of her shirt far enough that he could see the tattoo.

It was almost identical to the one on his chest, similar position and style, but the letters were different – Z M. Shepard pulled her shirt collar back in place. She was about to say something when she caught sight of Major Alenko watching them through a nearby office window. He had kept his distance since they'd been on Earth so far. Anderson and Vega might have had something to do with that.

"Rory?" Zaeed frowned at her.

She turned her attention back to him and forced a smile, he didn't appear to buy it though. His eyes scanned the buildings for what she'd been looking at. She knew the moment that he saw Alenko, because his hand clenched around hers tightly.

"Anderson and Vega have been keeping him far away from me." She placed a hand on the side of his head, her fingers playing with his hair. "He hasn't touched or talked to me since the trip back to Earth."

Zaeed's eyes narrowed. "What happened on the way to Earth?"

Rory shrugged in response. "Alenko learned the hard way that Lieutenant Vega has a very strong protective streak."

What…"

She moved her fingers to press against his lips. "I've spent all this time in the brig without seeing you. I'm not going to spend the thirty minutes that I have talking about fucking Alenko."

"Commander Shepard." Admiral Anderson's voice interrupted whatever Zaeed was going to say next. "The committee has a few more questions for you."

_Fucking bastards._

Ignoring Anderson, she leaned in to kiss Massani, her hands gripping the front of the shirt. She eased back when Anderson coughed a few times. Zaeed crushed her tightly in his arms for a moment before finally letting her go. She winked at him then laughed when Anderson grabbed her by the arm and dragged her away.

She was in her room in the detention center later that night when she heard the door open. Vega usually left her alone after midnight. The silhouette in the living area did _not_ look like the Lieutenant either.

_Shit_.

_It had to be Alenko._

Easing off the bed, she used the darkness to her advantage. She slid across the floor over to the doorway to the bedroom. When he stepped inside, she swung her feet around to sweep the intruder off of his feet. She had him by her throat when she realized that Kaidan smelled a lot like Massani. Her fingers brushed against his jaw, he felt a lot like Massani as well.

"What the fuck are you doing? Are you insane?" She sat back on her heels and smacked him on the arm.

"Do you really think that one goddamn kiss was going to be enough?" Zaeed grabbed her arm and pulled her on top of him.

"How…"

His strong hands slid up her thighs and with a firm grip, he swung her underneath him.

_Questions later. Much later._

They never actually got to how the hell he snuck into the brig. She had no idea how the hell he snuck out either. The smirk on Vega's face the following morning gave her an idea that he'd had an accomplice.

Shepard found being cuffed the most annoying part of the brig. She wasn't always in handcuffs, but when certain members of the admiralty were present. Anderson insisted for appearances only. She was stuck in an elevator with Vega and Alenko on the way to a meeting with the committee when she felt a hand brush her ass.

_Fucking bastard._

She tried to shift up but there was only so much space in an elevator and her wrists were fucking cuffed in front of her. The hand grabbed her again. She lifted her leg and ground her boot down on his foot. She didn't want Vega to know anything was wrong, but she wasn't letting the bastard get away with touching her.

_Alenko was an idiot._

His hand was reaching out for her again when Vega spun around and grabbed his wrist. James spun the Major around and twisted his arm behind his back. He leaned down to whisper in his ear. Shepard couldn't make out what the hell he was saying. By the time the elevator doors opened, they were all standing like nothing had ever happened. Vega pulled Shepard out of the lift. Alenko stayed behind.

"What the hell did you say to him?" She glanced up at Vega.

"He won't touch you again, Commander. Trust me." Vega just grinned at her.

"Stop with the Commander shit, Vega." She rolled her eyes at him. "It just reminds me that I'm being screwed six ways from Sunday by the brass."

"Ok, Lola."

"Lola? Lola." She raised her eyes up to the ceiling. "I can't wait for Massani to hear that one."


	18. Chapter 18

**A/N:**

***very slight potential triggers***

**This is AU-ish in a lot of ways, my stories always are. Rated M, mostly because I like to cuss like a sailor in life and in my stories.**

**Beta: CelticGrace. **

**Thanks for the follows, favorites and reviews!**

**Bioware owns all. Sadly.**

**Read. Enjoy. Review. Follow. Favorite. I'll love you forever lol.**

_Inter-Relay Text Chat_

_Location: Mars_

_From: Shepard_

_To: Zaeed_

_10:35 S: I have good news and bad news. The good news is that I'm safe, have command of the Normandy and am off Earth. Oh and Vega's with me._

_10:39 Z: And the bad news?_

_10:41 S: You aren't going to like who one of the crew is._

_10:43 Z: Who?_

_10:59 Z: Rory._

_11:03 S: Major Kaidan Alenko._

_11:05 Z: Meet me on the Citadel._

_11:08 S: That's where we're headed anyway. I just have to stop at the Mars facility for Hackett first._

_11:11 Z: You keep Vega close, understand?_

_11:12 S: Like I have a choice? _

_11:13 S: Gotta go. Heading to Mars._

_11:13 User has disconnected._

* * *

_Inter-Relay Text Chat_

_Location: Mars_

_From: Shepard_

_To: Zaeed_

_14:37 S: Heading to the Citadel now. Alenko got…injured._

_14:49 S: And not by me or Vega. Cerberus was on Mars._

_14:50 Z: Is the bastard dead?_

_14:51 S: No. We're rushing him to the Citadel so he doesn't die._

_14:52 Z: Why?_

_14:53 S: Zaeed._

_14:54 Z: Rory._

_14:55 S: Are you on the Citadel?_

_14:56 Z: No._

_14:57 S: Oh. Ok. _

_14:59 Z: I'm running down a lead on Cerberus._

_15:02 S: Fine._

_15:03 Z: Rory. Did something happen on Mars?_

_15:04 S: I'm very busy trying to save the life of my stalker, go do what you've gotta do._

_15:05 User has disconnected._

* * *

After her meeting with the council and running a few errands, Rory did go to see Doctor Chakwas at Huerta, she _did not_ visit Alenko. She didn't give a fuck what happened to the bastard. She'd gone above and beyond the call of duty by getting him to the hospital as soon as possible. When she got back to her quarters, she tried unsuccessfully to nap while they headed to Palaven.

_Fucking nightmares._

She stretched out across the bed. It felt too damn empty without Zaeed. She reached out to grab her omni-tool.

* * *

_From: R.S._

_To: Z.M._

_Subj: Citadel._

_I'm on my way to Palaven, well, Menae actually._

_Think you'll be done with the Cerberus thing soon._

_So you could meet me on the Citadel?_

_Rory_

* * *

_Inter-Relay Text Chat_

_Location: Illium_

_From: Zaeed_

_To: Rory_

_01:03 Z: What's wrong, Rory?_

_01:07 R: Wrong? Nothing. Why are you on Illium?_

_01:09 Z: I told you, hunting down a lead on Cerberus._

_01:10 R: That is very specific, bastard._

_01:11 Z: I'll give you the specifics when I know them._

_01:12 Z: Why don't you tell me why the fuck you are awake at 0100?_

_01:13 User has disconnected._

* * *

She didn't want to talk to Zaeed about the little boy that she'd been unable to save on Earth. And she certainly didn't want to tell him about what happened on Normandy between Alenko and herself while Vega was getting his gear situated. There'd be no way that she could stop him from shooting the bastard. Hell, she'd barely avoided doing it herself. She'd also taken three showers with the water hot enough to scald her skin.

Her omni-tool beeped with an incoming vid-chat hail.

_Ignore._

It beeped again.

_Ignore._

"Commander? I've got Zaeed Massani over the QEC requesting to be transferred the terminal in your quarters." EDI's voice came over the intercom.

_Fuck_.

"Tell him that I'm on my way to Menae. I'll talk to him later."

"Patching him through."

_Damn AI._

_Damn Joker probably._

He was waiting impatiently when she finally dragged herself over to the terminal and answered his hail.

"No bunny pjs?" He asked when he caught sight of her tank-top and shorts.

"What is so fucking important?" She ignored the smirk.

"Tell me about Mars. Vega tells me that you went with Alenko and T'soni into the facility and he went back to the shuttle." Zaeed had his _'I will wait until you crack from the pressure'_ look on his face.

"I don't want to talk about this over the vid." Rory decided to delay him…if possible.

"It's going to be a week before I get to the Citadel. Maybe a little longer," Zaeed sighed.

_Success._

"It can wait. Alenko's not exactly going anywhere or bothering anyone in a coma." Rory tried to keep the grin from her face. Maybe Zaeed would forget about it by then. Or not.

"So Alenko _did_ do something on Mars?" He asked.

"I…No, he didn't."

"Maybe I'll ask T'soni." Zaeed prompted after she'd been silent for a while.

"You can ask all you like; she didn't see anything because nothing happened on Mars." Rory shrugged.

He glared at her. "Did something happen before you got to Mars?"

"No."

Zaeed was quiet for a good five minutes before he finally responded. "Then why does EDI have security footage of him heading up to your quarters? He was in there for ten minutes. What the hell happened?"

_Shit._

"Nothing happened."

She really didn't want to talk about it. Not right now, not_ ever._ So she disconnected the comm and set it to automatically ignore Zaeed for the moment. He could yell at her later. Her plan worked great for days until they were on their way to Tuchanka after picking up Eve and Mordin on Sur'kesh.

"Sorry, Lola." Vega apologized the minute he stepped into her quarters after she unlocked her door.

"Sorry?" She raised an eyebrow.

"He scares me more than you do." Vega stepped back out of the room to reveal Zaeed.

_Fuck._

She didn't bother saying hi. She just turned around and wandered back over to the couch. Pausing to grab a cigarette and light it up, Rory sank down on the couch and propped her feet up on the coffee table. Zaeed pushed her feet off the table and sat on it so they were facing each other.

"It's not like you to ignore me, Rory." He placed a hand on her knee.

"Except for that extended period after Akuze." She let him steal her cigarette. "I thought you were busy on Illium?"

"The last time that I let you ignore me it lasted for years. Do I look like the kind of man to make the same mistake twice?" He watched the smoke from the cigarette for a moment.

"Is that a rhetorical question?" Rory started to reach for a new smoke but he handed the one in his hand to her.

"I'm not going anywhere, so talk to me." He tapped his finger on her leg.

"It was a disturbing replay of what happened on the Citadel." Rory snuffed the cigarette out.

"I wasn't there for that either, Rory." He reminded her.

"Fuck it." She pushed is hand away and headed over to grab her omni-tool from the side table. She pulled up a vid.

"What's this?"

"I heard him come in, I couldn't get to my pistol in time but I did manage record what happened." Rory played the vid for him while he reached out to rest his hand on her knee once again..

Zaeed tightened his hold on her. "I'll kill him."

"I won't stop you." She gave him a half-hearted grin. "Hey, I have a present for you."

"A present?" He frowned at the change of subject.

She grinned at him before walking over to grab a bag from her desk. She tossed it to him. "I found these in your size."

Zaeed glanced inside the bag. "_Rory._"

"Yes?"

"You have five goddamn seconds." He threw the bag on the floor and a pair of bunny pajamas fell out of it.

Shepard snickered before trying to dart past him. He grabbed her around the waist and dragged her down on his lap. He tried to swat her on the ass, but she managed to turn enough so that she was straddling him.

"Goddamn bunny pajamas." Zaeed muttered.


	19. Chapter 19

**A/N:**

**This is AU-ish in a lot of ways, my stories always are. Rated M, mostly because I like to cuss like a sailor in life and in my stories.**

**Beta: CelticGrace. **

**Thanks for the follows, favorites and reviews!**

**Bioware owns all. Sadly.**

**Read. Enjoy. Review. Follow. Favorite. I'll love you forever lol.**

Before they cured the genophage, Shepard headed to Benning to take care of the supposed rogue Cerberus forces there. She told Joker to stop on the Citadel before they headed to Tuchanka. She needed to give the Ambassador the dogtags that she'd found. She was stepping into the elevator after speaking with him only to find Alenko waiting for her inside. The doors closed before she could dart out.

"You stay over there, bastard." She slammed blindly at the buttons trying to hit the nearest floor.

"Now Shepard, is that any way to greet a friend?" Alenko moved closer and she suddenly regretted her decision to not wear armor and her weapons on the Citadel.

She tried for a punch but the stasis came as she knew it would. Alenko was a fucking coward; he knew she'd kick his ass if she wasn't frozen. He kissed her on the neck. The familiar pounding music was growing closer, she hoped to hell the doors opened at Purgatory. His hand was on her waist when they slid open.

"What the bloody hell do you think you're doing?"

_Zaeed_.

A fist caught Alenko in the side of the head, a second one caught in him the ribs, Zaeed kneed him in the head while Kaidan was bent over. Massani wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her out of the elevator. The doors closed with Alenko still hunched over in pain.

"Rory?" Zaeed led her over to a nearby bench.

"I don't want to talk about it." Her legs gave out on her. She dropped down on the bench with a thud. The adrenaline rush had dissipated and her hands started to shake a little. "If I could fight the fucker back…but that goddamn stasis."

"I'm not leaving you alone until that bastard is taken care of, one way or another." He sat beside her with his arm still around her. "Promise me, Rory, either me or Vega, you keep one of us close."

Rory just nodded in response. She was getting really tired of Alenko. Alliance be damned, she was putting a bullet through his skull if she got the chance. She didn't like the feeling of helplessness that he'd given her. Commander fucking Shepard did _not_ do helpless.

She started up from the bench to head back to the _Normandy_ but Zaeed's arm around her waist kept her beside him. "I'm supposed to be on my way to Tuchanka."

"In a goddamn minute."

"Sure, because it's not like the Krogan are in a hurry to cure the genophage or the turians are all that desperate for help on Palaven." Rory rubbed the back of her hand along her neck where Alenko had touched her. "I'm in the middle of a war, Massani. I don't have time for a personal crisis."

He reached up to pull her hand away from her neck. His fingers ran along the spot that she'd been obsessively touching. "I don't give a damn if the world goes up in flames in the next five minutes.

"What about ten minutes?" Rory chuckled. "Seriously, I need to get back to the ship."

"Vega should be here in about five minutes." He shook his head at her with his hand still gently caressing her. "I've got to stay on the Citadel. Cerberus is up to something and I want to figure out what the hell it is. But I'm not letting you back in that fucking elevator without back-up."

Rory was tempted to be annoyed at him. But instead, she wrapped her arms around his neck and let him just hold her until Vega arrived. James didn't ask any questions about why Massani wanted him to escort the Commander back to the ship. He probably didn't have to; it became obvious when they headed to Bay D24 only to find Major fucking Alenko waiting outside the _Normandy_ airlock. He didn't see James until he was standing between Kaidan and Shepard.

"I believe that I told you something the last time you messed with the Commander." Vega lifted him by the back of the shirt and dragged him away from the airlock. "I will be informing Admiral Anderson and Admiral Hackett of what happened today. You might be a fucking Spectre, but you're still Alliance. I don't think you should expect to hold on to your rank for much longer, _Major_."

Rory waited until they were back on the ship before asking, "what did you tell him the last time?"

"The truth," Vega shrugged.

"Which is?" Rory prompted when he didn't add anything else.

"Don't worry about it, Lola." Vega winked at her and headed on the bridge.

She watched him head towards the War Room before turning towards Joker to tell him to set a course for Tuchanka. They needed to get the damn genophage cure taken care of. Hours later, Shepard was putting another name on the fucking memorial on the crew deck while the _Normandy_ raced back towards the Citadel. She was really getting tired of this fucking war.

_Rory was going to miss Mordin. _

Of all the things that she thought would happen on the Citadel, a fucking Cerberus coup had not been on the top of her list. Neither had riding on top of a fucking elevator while someone shot at her, Vega and Garrus. Udina seriously needed to die.

_Fucking bastard._

They hopped off the top of the elevator and rushed through the door out on the landing pad to find Alenko standing between them and the councilors with his pistol pointed in her direction. _Seriously._ This was just the fucked up cherry on top of her fucked up day.

"Put your goddamn weapon down." Shepard raised her gun towards the Major. "Udina is behind this fucking coup. He's a traitor. We can't let him succeed."

"I can't do that Shepard. You're the one holding the gun on the Councilor." Alenko's finger hovered over the trigger. His gun came up towards Shepard and a shot rang out. He hit the ground with a bullet between his eyes.

Shepard spun around to find neither Garrus or Vega had fired. She turned her attention towards Udina who was holding his weapon on the Asari Councilor. She shot the fucker in the head. _Traitorous Bastard. _ She focused her attention back on the door but movement to the left caught her eye. A familiar set of black and yellow armor moved out of sight from one of the adjoining balconies.

_Goddamn Massani._

She was fucking exhausted. Rory trudged up to her quarters hours later feeling like her entire body was going to collapse. It had taken forever to deal with all the mess that the coup had left. She'd gotten roped into several errands for C-sec, not to mention visiting Thane, another fucking name to add to the memorial, and finally, she'd had to debrief both Admiral Anderson and Hackett on what had happened.

It occurred to her when she finally collapsed on the couch that she hadn't seen Zaeed aside from the brief glimpse of him during the coup. _Where the hell was he_? She checked through her messages only to find a message from the Primarch about the volus ambassador. The mention of Cerberus and bounty caught her attention. Massani had been investigating something before the coup.

She dragged herself up to her feet and decided to head back to the embassy. Might as well deal with the damn matter now, the moment that she heard Zaeed's voice over the ear piece, she was glad she'd made the effort. She raced towards the elevator telling Korlack to keep himself calm.

"Drop my name." Rory headed towards the door at one end of the apartments hallway.

"_Commander Shepard is investigating." Korlack sounded like he was starting to panic. "She's a recent acquantaince."_

"_How goddamn recent?" Zaeed asked._

"_Very."_

"_Shit, I'm listening."_

Shepard stepped through the door to find two dead mercs, a cowering volus and a smug Massani leaning back against the window. They got the information and bombing fleet from the ambassador. He disappeared almost immediately. Rory turned her attention to Zaeed.

"That was a nice shot earlier." She remarked as they started to head out of the room.

"I've got no goddamn idea what you're talking about, Rory." He gave her an innocent smile.

"Lying bastard." She elbowed him in the side. "Was it satisfying?"

"Hell yes."


	20. Chapter 20

**A/N:**

**This is AU-ish in a lot of ways, my stories always are. Rated M, mostly because I like to cuss like a sailor in life and in my stories.**

**Beta: CelticGrace. **

**Thanks for the follows, favorites and reviews!**

**Bioware owns all. Sadly.**

**Read. Enjoy. Review. Follow. Favorite. I'll love you forever lol.**

Rory glanced over one of the over-turned tables to take out another one of the mercs. She ducked around it and slid across one of the bar counters to land next to Brooks. She applied medi-gel to get the woman back on her feet. She caught sight of another merc when a rifle shot echoed and he fell. She glanced up to find Zaeed heading down the stairs towards her.

She started towards him with a grin when two more mercs landed nearby. One focused on Massani, while the other started firing at Shepard. She heard the glass under her feet break. With a quick glance down at the blasted fish tank, Rory immediately knew what was about to happen.

_Oh fuck_.

"_Rory!"_

She briefly caught the panic in his eyes before she disappeared in a shower of water, glass and fucking fish. Her hands scrambled to grab a hold of anything to stop the fall. She thought she was home free when a fucking light hit her and she tumbled the rest of the way down.

_Shit._

"I am never eating sushi again." Shepard mumbled to herself as she limped along trying to ignoring the chattering Brooks.

"Can I help with anything, Commander?"

_SHUT UP!_

"Alert C-sec. See if you can get me a shuttle to the skycar lot that I see across the way." Rory decided yelling at the woman probably wouldn't help much. "Brooks, just focus on getting me a shuttle. Your constant stream of chatter is a little distracting."

"Yes, Commander."'

Rory shot her way through the mercs to get across to the used car lot. Vega was waiting for on the other side of the door. "Do not say a fucking word."

"What? You're just looking a little…moist, Lola." He grinned at her.

"Bastard."

Four hours later, Zaeed stared between the two Shepard's dangling from the _Normandy._ He exchanged a glance with Vega. With the same fucking armor on, he couldn't tell who the fuck was who. Rory's tattoos weren't visible and neither was her engagement ring. _Bloody hell_. They did the only thing that they could do. They saved both of them.

EDI piloted the _Normandy_ back to the dock while Zaeed and Vega held the two Shepards in cuffs. Brooks had already been shot trying to escape. Massani removed both of their left gauntlets only to find neither of them wearing rings. Then he remembered Rory had left her ring on the sink in the bathroom before heading to the casino.

_Goddamn it._

"How the hell are we going to figure out…" Vega looked as worried as he was when he discovered the women had identical tattoos.

"Zaeed." One of the Shepard's spoke up. "Come here for a moment."

He hesitated for a moment before grabbing her by the arm and pulling her to the side. "What?"

"There are lines on the tattoo on my back; each one represents a step that I took on Mindoir. I was in bunny pjs at the time." She continued on when he didn't say anything in response. "After Akuze, in the apartment that you rented…"

"I'm waiting." He kept his face carefully blank.

"We slept together…and then I was reassigned." She grinned up at him as if she expected him to release her. "I bolted because I'd told you how I felt."

Instead, Zaeed dragged her back over to Vega. He took the other Shepard by the arm to drag her away for a quiet little _chat._ He wasn't convinced that the other one was the right one. If they'd been monitoring Rory's messages, all of that information would have been available to them.

"What did I tell you before you left after Akuze?" He kept his voice low.

She frowned up at him. "Nothing. I fucking bolted before you could get a word in edgewise. Well…no that's not entirely true, we did have one conversation."

"And what did I say?"

"A lot of goddamns?" She grinned at him.

_This had to be Rory, infuriating fucking woman_.

"Aside from that?" Zaeed wanted to know for certain though. "What did I tell you? What did I tell you that made you stay away from me for six goddamn years?"

The grin fell away from her face and it was replaced by pure anger. He expected that, he didn't expect the knee that she shoved into his groin. He dropped to his knees; Shepard crouched down awkwardly with her hands in the cuffs.

"You told me that if I was going to leave, I could've waited until I'd learned a little more about how to pleasure a man. Then you said that you should've known better than to screw around with an inexperienced girl." She looked like she wanted to slug him. "Goddamn bastard. And then you sent me a message a few days later to say sorry…though you didn't actually _fucking_ apologize. Is that good enough for you?"

"Did you have to knee me?" Zaeed grumbled at her. He stood up slowly and pulled Shepard to her feet with him. He grabbed his rifle, turned and shot the other Shepard in the back of the head.

"What the hell?" Vega spun around towards him. "Are you sure?"

"Bit late to worry about that now." Shepard remarked. "Someone get these fucking cuffs off of me."

Zaeed pulled the handcuffs off of her. She strode away from him into the elevator, he started to join her but she shoved him out of it before the doors closed. _Goddamn woman. _ By the time that the elevator came back down to the Shuttle Bay, and he got back up to the CIC, Shepard was gone.

* * *

_From: Z.M._

_To: R.S_

_Subj: Where are you?_

_Don't make me resort to having EDI track you._

_Zaeed_

* * *

_From: R.S._

_To: Z.M._

_Subj: re: location._

_I'm on the Citadel._

_I'll meet you at my apartment in a couple of hours._

_Rory_

* * *

It was irrational of her to be pissed off at Zaeed. He'd done the best thing he could think of to identify her. It'd been a long time since she thought about their last conversation. Six years later, she was still pissed off about it. _Bastard. _ She was meeting up with Traynor at the arcade when she spotted him at the claw machine. He was kicking the damn thing in frustration.

_Vid. _

_She needed vid of this. _

_Now._

She watched him for about ten minutes waste credit after credit trying to get one of the stupid toys from the machine…unsuccessfully. She had to cover her mouth to keep from busting out laughing. It was too fucking hilarious.

"Having problems, Massani?" Rory elbowed him out-of-the-way and took over the controls. It took her all of a second to get the damn volus toy. She bent down to retrieve it for him.

"Got any credits, Rory?" He glared at her and ignored the toy in her hand.

"No." She grinned at him.

"Goddamn it." He started towards her but she ducked away from him.

"I am not wasting my hard-earned credits on a claw machine." Rory walked towards the door. She tossed the volus plushie over her shoulder and beamed him in the head with it. _Sweet._

He shoved the toy in the arms of a nearby asari and followed her out of the arcade. "Are you done being pissed off at me?"

"I guess," she shrugged. "Thanks for shooting…me. How'd it feel?"

He grabbed her by the arm and spun her around to face him. "That bitch was not you, Rory."

"Really? Cause she kinda looked just like me." It really bugged Rory. She'd felt a moment of fear that he might not know who was who. "What if you'd shot me instead? How do you even know that you didn't shoot the wrong one?"

"Cause you just took bloody vid of me being bested by a goddamn arcade game. I don't think a clone would give a shit about blackmail material." He gave her a shrewd look.

"That's a good point, Massani. How much is your pride worth to you?" She grinned at him.

"I dunno, I wasted all my fucking credits on the claw machine." He scratched his jaw for a moment.

"Addict."

"Maybe." He shrugged.

"You just started playing the damn thing, how can you be an addict already?" She rolled her eyes and started walking towards one of the nearby restaurants. She was starving.

He wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her tightly against him. "I'm an all-in kind of guy, Rory."

"Are we still talking about the claw machine?" She asked.

"I think we need to add a second goddamn ring to that finger." He lifted her hand up to find her engagement ring back where it should be. "Now about that vid."

"I'll give you the footage in exchange for you wearing the bunny pajamas." She smirked at him.

"No bloody way in hell."


	21. Chapter 21

**A/N:**

**This is AU-ish in a lot of ways, my stories always are. Rated M, mostly because I like to cuss like a sailor in life and in my stories.**

**Beta: CelticGrace. **

**Thanks for the follows, favorites and reviews!**

**Bioware owns all. Sadly.**

**Read. Enjoy. Review. Follow. Favorite. I'll love you forever lol.**

Shepard was thankful for two things. Ship Captains according to naval law could do weddings, which meant Admiral Hackett could perform the wedding. And she'd managed to con Vega into keeping Zaeed far, far away from her all damn day.

They'd decided to get married at her apartment on the Citadel. No muss, no fuss. The only guests were the crew from the _Normandy_ both past and present. Zaeed decided to wear the suit that he'd worn to the charity event at the casino. He assumed that she'd wear the dress that she'd worn.

_She didn't._

Liara and Traynor had corralled everyone into decorating. Rory was surprised to find her apartment looking more like a garden then an apartment. She had to pinch the bridge of her nose to keep from sneezing. She'd kept her wedding attire a secret from everyone. Vega was going to walk her down the aisle…well stairs, mostly because Wrex and Garrus had almost come to blows fighting over who'd actually known her longer.

The look on Zaeed's face when she came into view wearing _bunny pajamas _was priceless. Vega led her up to where Massani stood with the Admiral. Zaeed muttered something under his breathe that sounded suspiciously like _goddamn bunnies._ The ceremony was short. She didn't really give a damn about the words, or the rings that they exchanged. It was the promise in his eyes that mattered to her.

The actual wedding was probably all of five minutes. The party went well into the next morning. Rory spent the entire time in bunny pajamas. It was hilarious. She finally kicked everyone out at 0200. They still had a damn war to fight. She wandered around the apartment looking for Zaeed. He was sitting at the bar with a glass of scotch in his hand.

"Goddamn bunny pajamas." He shook his head at her. "Bloody things."

"Very comfortable though." Rory ran her hand across his shoulder. He did look damn fine in the tux. "I have a present for you."

"Oh?" He raised an eyebrow at her.

"It's upstairs." She grabbed his hand and pulled him up the stairs into the bedroom. She pointed to a weapon case that lay on the bed. "It's in there."

"You got me a gun?" He frowned at her when she said, 'no' then at her insistence, lifted the lid. "_Jessie._"

"It took a while to find all the right replacement parts. I had to get a little help in putting her back together in…" Rory fidgeted nervously while he stared at the rifle. "I thought you might like to have her for the upcoming…she's in like new…shit."

"You fixed her." His fingers glided over the rifle.

"Yea," she shrugged. "I figured your mistress should get all dolled up for the wedding.

"Rory."

"You have an unhealthy obsession with _your weapon_." Rory's smile widened when he sighed deeply.

Ten minutes was long enough for him to get _reacquainted_ with the damn gun. Rory wandered out of the room. She paused in the doorway to toss the pajama top at him. It landed on his head. She made her way back downstairs, the pajama bottoms stayed at the foot of the stairs. Zaeed found her sitting at the bar finishing off the drink he'd left.

He'd taken off his jacket and shirt. He rested his hands on her waist to spin her around on the bar stool. Her hands came up to trace the tattoos and scars on his chest. Her legs opened to allow him to step between them.

"I have a gift for you." Zaeed's fingers brushed her hair off her shoulders.

"Is it in here?" She grinned at him while one of her hands moved down to the front of his trousers.

"Rory."

"It's amazing how much long-suffering annoyance you manage to infuse into my name." She ignored him and focused on trying to get his damn pants off.

He leaned over her to grab something hidden behind the bar. He handed a very small box to her. Inside the box was a locket on a platinum chain, she turned it over in her hand before finally opening it. Tears immediately blurred her vision, she brushed them away impatiently. The locket contained two faces that she hadn't seen since she was eighteen.

"Where..." Rory wasn't even sure what the right question was.

"I went back...to the colony. Fucking bastards had burned everything to the ground. But I found one goddamn photo in the ashes. The locket is made from their wedding rings." He rubbed the back of his neck.

"Wedding rings? How did you get their rings?" Rory's brain was having trouble catching up.

"I paid for their burial. You were already at bootcamp." Zaeed looked…nervous. Massani was never nervous.

She stared down at their faces. She'd forgotten what they looked like over the years until now. That he'd saved it all these years. Rory knew exactly why he hadn't told her about it before. Mindoir had messed her up for a long time, she didn't talk about her parents ever. But he'd saved it because he knew that she'd want it one day.

"Are you…"

Rory lifted her hand to cover his mouth. "Thank you. Seriously, thank you."

He grabbed her hand and pulled it away from his face. "If I say that I love you, are you going to bolt from the room?"

"Well, no…but mostly because I'm naked," she pushed his pants down. "And also, because you'd chase me, and you appear to be mostly naked as well."

Zaeed grabbed her by the waist and carried her over to the nearby couch. He laid her down on it, pausing to get…completely nude. Rory slid her hand up his thigh while he moved on top of her. She forgot about the goddamn war and focused on the body hovering just above her.

"You sure you don't want to bolt?" He lowered himself just a little to tease her.

"I will shoot you in the head with your own goddamn gun." She glared at him, and then moved her hand to grab him by the neck and tried to pull him down into a kiss. "Bastard."

"Consider it punishment for the bloody pajamas." His body was tantalizingly close.

"Zaeed." She was not going to fucking beg.

"Rory."

_Bastard._

"Please?" She lifted her hips and resisted the urge to slug him when he raised off her a little.

"Thought you'd never bloody ask." He kissed her hard before lowering himself.

"Remind me to shoot you later, much, much later." Rory muttered.


	22. Chapter 22

**A/N:**

**This is AU-ish in a lot of ways, my stories always are. Rated M, mostly because I like to cuss like a sailor in life and in my stories.**

**FYI: I've written two one-shots related to this story: After Akuze and Not Who You Shot.**

**Beta: CelticGrace. **

**Thanks for the follows, favorites and reviews!**

**Bioware owns all. Sadly.**

**Read. Enjoy. Review. Follow. Favorite. I'll love you forever lol.**

The blanket had gotten very heavy at some point. Rory opened her eyes to find that the blanket was actually Zaeed. Warm…but heavy. She eased out from under him to walk over to her terminal to see why it was beeping. Damn thing. A message from Aria insisting that she meet her to start the re-taking of Omega was not exactly what she was hoping for.

_Shit._

She glanced over at her still sleeping husband. _Husband._ He was going to be pissed if she didn't tell him first. He'd want to go if she did tell him, and Aria had been pretty insistent on the whole going alone thing. She quietly pulled on a pair of fatigues and then buckled on her armor. After grabbing her pistol and rifle, she started towards the door.

A strong hand grabbed the back of her collar and pulled her back inside the apartment. Zaeed dragged her by the collar all the way over to the couch and sat her down on it. He somehow managed to look seriously ticked off while standing in front of her completely naked. He smacked her hand away when she reached out to touch his _tender_ parts.

"Where the hell are you going?" He sat on the coffee table.

"You're going to leave a butt-imprint on the glass." Rory grinned at him. "I need to go meet with Aria. She wants to _discuss_ something with me. I'll be back in…an hour maybe? We can go to dinner."

He frowned at her. "You're going to meet Aria in full armor?"

"It's Aria." Rory shrugged like that would explain everything. "I'll meet you on the Presidium."

"Rory."

"What?" She winked at him before heading to the door. She breathed a sigh of relief when the doors closed behind her. He was definitely going to kill her later.

The one hour that she told Zaeed had passed about seven hours ago. She had a feeling that he had probably gone from pissed off to homicidal three hours in. She'd been ignoring the incoming comm requests that he'd been sending. They were distracting. Ducking behind a store front, she had a few minutes before they finally headed to Afterlife.

She pulled up her omni-tool to send Zaeed a message.

* * *

_Inter-Relay Text Chat_

_Location: Omega_

_From: Rory_

_To: Zaeed_

_16:34 R: Stop messaging me. It's distracting._

_16:39 Z: What the bloody hell are you doing on Omega?_

_16:41 R: Meeting with Aria._

_16:42 Z: Rory._

_16:43 R: I can actual hear the annoyance, that's impressive. Can you teach me how to do that?_

_16:45 R: You can yell at me later. I've got to go kill some more Cerberus bastards. _

_16:46 User has disconnected._

* * *

Bray standing behind her when she finally stepped back on the Citadel didn't seem to do much to improve Zaeed's mood. Her armor was splattered with blood, but none of it was hers. She'd managed to avoid injury, which would hopefully appease the annoyed man waiting for her.

"You promised not to go anywhere alone." He glared at her.

"Until Alenko was taken care of. He's dead, that's about as taken care of as it gets." Rory kept walking towards her apartment. She wanted clean clothes and food. "I'm starving. I'm going to shower and eat. Then you can yell at me."

Zaeed followed her in silence all the way to Tiberius Towers. She half-expected him to follow her into the bathroom, but he headed towards the bar. Rory stripped out of the armor and enjoyed a long, hot shower. She wandered into the kitchen an hour later dressed in cargo pants and a tank top. Her _husband_ was at the stove frying up steak and eggs.

Rory grabbed a piece of toast from one of the plates and hopped up on a counter. "Domestic Zaeed. Can I get you an apron with bunnies on it?"

"No."

She munched on the toast for a moment. "Aria insisted that I go alone. I'm not going to stop being…Commander Shepard…just because I've got an extra ring on my finger."

Zaeed flipped the eggs over before he turned his attention to her. "You could've told me."

"Why? So you could talk me out of it? Besides, you practically invented the phrase it's better to ask for forgiveness than permission. And you never even bother to fucking ask for forgiveness. You just assume that you'll get it." She took another bite of toast. "Besides you needed some alone time with Jessie."

"Rory."

She rolled her eyes. "I tell you what, the next time that I have to go on a difficult mission, you can go with me."

He looked at her suspiciously. "Like the one that Admiral Hackett just assigned to you?"

"How the…" She grabbed the plate of steak and eggs from him. "Yes. We're hunting something called Leviathan. Care to join me? You sure about the apron?"

"_Yes,_ I'm bloody sure."


	23. Chapter 23

**A/N:**

**This is AU-ish in a lot of ways, my stories always are. Rated M, mostly because I like to cuss like a sailor in life and in my stories.**

**Beta: CelticGrace. **

**Thanks for the follows, favorites and reviews!**

**Bioware owns all. Sadly.**

**Read. Enjoy. Review. Follow. Favorite. I'll love you forever lol.**

Rory lay back in bed and tried to get rid of the feeling of having Leviathan in her brain. Zaeed sat on the couch smoking at the world in general and her in particular. He'd been furious when she climbed into the Titan diving mech. He'd been even angrier when she fell out of it with blood pouring out of her nose straight into the path of two brutes. Which was a little unfair considering the fact that she'd come back as promised.

_Fickle fucker._

"Zaeed?"

_Silence._

_Silent smoking to be precise._

"_Zaeed." _She tried again.

_More frowning._

"Zaeed."

_This was stupid._

"Fine." She scooted off the bed and headed towards the door. "I'll be in the War Room, planning…something…if you decide to speak to me again."

"Rory."

She stopped on the first step near the aquarium. "He speaks. It's a miracle."

_More frowning._

_And fucking silence._

"Stop glaring at me." She leaned back against the fish tank.

"What if the goddamn Titan hadn't been able to bring you back up?" He managed to yell and smoke at the same time.

_Impressive._

"Do you practice that? Keeping the cigarette in your mouth while irrationally screaming at me?" Rory grinned at him.

"You would've died down there. We had no fucking way to get to you." He _did not_ smile back.

"But I didn't." She wandered over to steal the cigarette from his lips. "Are you jealous? Did you want to go for a swim?"

"It was bloody reckless."

"Maybe, but I didn't see you offering up any alternatives." She took a long drag before handing him back his cigarette.

"How many goddamn times do you think you get to _almost_ die before you do die?" Zaeed jammed the rest of the smoke into the ashtray.

"I did die. Remember?" Rory could tell from the anger that flared in his eyes that wasn't the answer he was looking for. _Oh bloody well._

"Commander? Sorry to disturb but we've got an emergency hail from Admiral Raan with the quarian fleet." Tarynor's voice came over the comm.

"Tell Joker that we need to get to the Perseus Veil faster than anticipated. I'll speak to the Admiral over the vid-comm." She ignored the frustrated sigh from Massani and rushed out of the room.

* * *

Zaeed stood beside Tali in the airlock as they watched Shepard walk across the damaged docking tube. He couldn't help but think back to the first _Normandy_. He heard the slight hitch in her voice when she mentioned the view to Tali. He tried very hard not to interfere when Rory was being…_Commander Fucking Shepard_ but couldn't shake the worry.

"How's it going, Rory?" He tried to keep it light.

"Fucking perfect," she muttered.

"Are you…"

"Shit. _Fuck. _Goddamn bastards." Shepard cut him off and he glanced up in time to see the docking tube drifting away from the dreadnought.

_Bloody hell._

"_Rory!"_

"I'm…good. Tell Tali to pull up the schematics of the ship to find another fucking tube. I'll let you both in." She answered after a long moment.

He didn't really fucking breathe until he had crossed on to the goddamn dreadnought and saw Rory. She played it off as nothing. It wasn't until they were waiting for Tali to bypass the next set of doors that he caught a brief glimpse of what was behind the _Commander_ façade. Rory reached down to grip his hand tightly. He felt the slight tremor and then it was gone.

"Rory?"

She just shook her head. "Not now. I need to…focus."

When they were squeezed into the geth fighter later, Rory used the tight space in the back for an excuse to curl up in Zaeed's lap. He held her as closely as their armor would allow. Her damn helmet obscured her face enough that he couldn't read her emotions. But the way that her hand gripped his arm said enough.

"Fucking gravity," she grumbled. "I need ryncol…and a cigarette. Though maybe not together, it's kinda flammable."

"Fucking quarians." He corrected.

"Think they'll miss Admiral Gerrel if I shoot the fucker in the head?" Rory didn't sound like she was kidding.

* * *

She didn't shoot him in the head. She did sucker punch him and kick him off the ship though. Rory told Joker to head to the Citadel. She needed a break before they tackled the geth problem. Zaeed had disappeared the moment they got back on the ship. So she headed up to her quarters to take a shower.

_Fucking quarians. Fucking docking tube. Fucking geth._

She stood under the hot water and tried to shake the feeling of almost getting spaced yet again. It hadn't been Joker's voice echoing in her head this time though. It was Massani's. And that almost made it worse. Her hands rested against the wall.

She heard the door behind her slide open. Strong hands grabbed her and spun her around; Zaeed backed her against the wall. For a moment, he was obscured by the water in her eyes. Then his mouth was on hers, his hands lifted her up until he could press himself between her legs.

"Do not fucking do that again." He growled at her later when they'd dried off and retreated to her bed.

"I'll be sure to add it to the long list of things I'm not supposed to do again." She grinned over at him.


	24. Chapter 24

**A/N:**

**This is AU-ish in a lot of ways, my stories always are. Rated M, mostly because I like to cuss like a sailor in life and in my stories.**

**Beta: CelticGrace. **

**Thanks for the follows, favorites and reviews!**

**Bioware owns all. Sadly.**

**Read. Enjoy. Review. Follow. Favorite. I'll love you forever lol.**

The nameplate in her hand held Legion's name. She pressed it on the memorial wall. The _Normandy_ had made the jump to the Parnitha system. They needed the information on the Catalyst from the Temple of Athame on Thessia.

_It had not really gone as planned._

Kai Leng threw Liara into Zaeed, sending the two of them across the room. Rory raced after the bastard only to have to dodge around missiles from the gunship. The temple began to crumble under her feet. She tried to leap to safety unsuccessfully. The whole fucking falling thing was really getting old.

She made the slow climb up the dangling part of what had been the floor. It took her several minutes to finally pull herself back up the temple. Her boots were _not_ made for climbing.

"Rory? Where the bloody hell is she?" Zaeed had gotten back to his feet and was apparently looking for her.

She managed to drag herself up the last a few inches and up to her feet. "I'm here. I'm not…dead."

Just as she took a step towards him, the damn floor fell out from under her again. _Son-of-a-fucking-bitch._ Her fingers slipped but before she could fall, Zaeed's hand grabbed the back of her armor and dragged her to safety.

Shoving him out of the way, she tried to race after Kai Leng but the Cerberus gunship was already gone.

_Fuck._

_Fuck._

_Fuck._

There was nothing that she could do but listen to the screams over the damn comm. Rory was fucking tired of not being able to save people. _Mindoir. Akuze. Thessia. _ How many worlds would fall without her being able to save one goddamn soul? She shoved Zaeed away from her and headed for the shuttle, ripping the comm out of her ear as she went. She didn't want to hear it anymore.

She made herself deal with the hails from both the Asari councilor and Admiral Hackett. She also checked on Liara to make sure that she was…as ok as she was going to be. With that taken care of, she stole a bottle of tequila from James and hid out in Jacks' old hidey hole. She sat back with her boots propped up and drank straight from the fucking bottle.

* * *

Zaeed had spent the last ten minutes looking for Rory. EDI finally informed him that the Commander appeared to be…singing...near Engineering.

_Singing?_

There was no singing when he finally found her. He crouched down to lift her up off the floor. "How much bloody tequila did you drink?

She snagged the empty bottle on the way up. "This _bloody_ much."

"Thessia…"

She covered his mouth with her hand. "Shut it, Massani. I'm trying very hard to focus."

"On what?"

"Figuring out why you have four eyes." She gave him a confused look. "Are you a batarian in disguise?"

He glared at her.

"An angry batarian in disguise?" She laid her head on his shoulder and her hand dropped to his chest. "You smell good for one. Slavers always stink."

"Rory."

"Shhh." She muttered. "'s very loud. Loud batarian."

"Stop bloody calling me a goddamn batarian." He growled at her.

"Ok."

He glanced down to find her half-asleep already. She blinked at him in surprise when he set her down on her bed. Her hand grabbed his and she yanked him down on the bed beside her. He raised an eyebrow at her but Rory just curled up against him and fell asleep.

* * *

"Zaeed." Rory muttered against his chest eight hours later. "Remind me to space Vega and his goddamn tequila."

"Gladly."

"I couldn't save them." She rolled over on her back and stared up at the stars. "I never seem to be able to save anyone."

"Who?"

"Anyone on Thessia," she sighed.

"You'll get the jumpy bastard." Zaeed reached over to pull her back into his arms.

"I hope so." She sat up and glanced down at him. "I really hope so, because if I don't, we're fucked."


	25. Chapter 25

**A/N:**

**This is the last chapter. I might do a few one-shots attached to it, but for the main story it's done. I do have a few other Zaeed/Shepard stories in the works though.**

**This is AU-ish in a lot of ways, my stories always are. Rated M, mostly because I like to cuss like a sailor in life and in my stories.**

**Beta: CelticGrace. **

**Thanks for the follows, favorites and reviews!**

**Bioware owns all. Sadly.**

**Read. Enjoy. Review. Favorite. I'll love you forever lol.**

Zaeed stood inside the hospital in London. He watched Shepard exercising in the small walking path outside. Doctor Chakwas was personally handling her case.

They'd headed to Earth after they'd finished at Sanctuary and the Cronos Station. Zaeed had separated from Shepard once they arrived at the Forward Operating Base. He felt like kicking himself in the ass. After the war was all over, he'd found Rory in a hospital tent. She'd been injured and was _very_ confused.

_Amnesia._

That's what the doc had called it. They had no idea if it was permanent. Her memories extended to just before they collected the Reaper IFF. She didn't remember defeating the reapers. It was all _'fuzzy.' _ That's what Rory called it when she tried to think about anything more recent.

_She'd removed the wedding ring on her finger, the engagement ring as well._

'_I just don't remember any of it. It's all fuzzy.'_

He kept both rings on the chain around his neck along with her old melted dog tags and the locket he'd given her. He'd found an apartment near the hospital. But most of his time was spent trying to help Rory remember. He waited for her to drift off to sleep each night before going back to the apartment.

_She at least remembered him._

* * *

_Inter-Relay Text Chat_

_Location: London_

_From: Rory_

_To: Zaeed_

_23:11 R: What happened to Alenko?_

_23:16 Z: He died._

_23:17 R: Anderson?_

_23:18 Z: Dead._

_23:20 R: Anyone else?_

_23:22 Z: Mordin Solus. Thane Krios. Legion._

_23:23 R: Who the hell is Legion?_

_23:26 Z: He…it doesn't matter. He died in the war as well._

_23:33 R: Kasumi sent me a vid._

_23:34 Z: She's not supposed to send you vids. What was it off?_

_23:37 R: The little ceremony we had on the Citadel._

_23:39 Z: Goddamn thief. I told her not to show you that yet._

_23:41 R: I'm sorry that I don't remember it. _

_23:42 User has disconnected._

* * *

Rory watched the vid over and over, for the next week. It was late in the evening when she watched it for what seemed like the millionth time. She lifted her hand up to her neck to find the locket gone. She was mid-panic when it dawned on her that she _remembered_ Zaeed giving her the necklace after the party.

It felt like someone had twisted everything in her brain and it suddenly fell back in the right place. She tapped her fingers on the windowsill. Physically, she was fine. They'd only kept her in the hospital because of the memory loss. Her omni-tool told her it was 0100.

Not for the first time in her life, Rory snuck out of the hospital. Liara provided the location of Massani's apartment and the code to his front door. She also promised to wait a few hours before letting _everyone_ know that Shepard had gotten her memory back.

Once she was inside his temporary home, she took her boots off so she could sneak around. Zaeed was stretched out on the bed. He slept naked except for the chain around his neck. An empty bottle of scotch sat on the floor beside the bed. She snuffed out the still smoldering cigarette in the ashtray. Even in sleep, his brow was furrowed. He looked fucking exhausted.

Stripping down to her underwear, she moved on the bed next to him. She grabbed the blanket at the foot of the bed and yanked it up over both of them once she'd snuggled beside him. The last little piece inside her twisted back into place with his closeness, and she drifted off to sleep.

"What the bloody hell..." Zaeed exclaimed the next morning. "Rory?"

"Funny thing." She shifted so she could rest her chin on his chest. "I seem to be missing several pieces of jewelry. Can I have them back now?"

"Thank the fucking..." His hands cupped her face and he pulled her up into a kiss. "Goddamn it, do not do that to me again."

"I'll add it to the list." She grinned at him. "So...Massani...any thoughts on your retirement plan?"

"Thought we'd raise rabbits somewhere." He smirked at her. "Goddamn pajamas started all of this anyway."

"I love you too, Zaeed."


End file.
